Cold-Blooded
by KazRed
Summary: When a Meta-Human with a heavy grudge joins Scarecrow's side, the Arkham Knight finds himself promising the inevitable when the time comes to pass. Dark secrets call for a stronger alliance, but the Knight is made to wonder why. Why must she cling like the fears of his darkened past? Why does she understand...why he is who he is? Will he let his scars take control?
1. Frozen

**I won't ramble too much, since this story won't have another dislclaimer or AN unless necessary, but I dearly thank the support that I'm getting considering this is my first arkhamverse fic. It's not a lot but it's a start.**

 **DISCLAIMER: WARNING - SPOILERS! Set during the events of Arkham Knight, following the ambiguous antagonist of the game since we don't get much of that (and also because I couldn't fit this in the summary). I do not own any characters except for those unfamiliar with.**

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All 5 guns were trained on her, ready to fire if she moved a hefty inch, two of those guns were a rifle with enough power to rip her head and shoulders to shreds. But not even the threat of death could wipe that glossy smile off her face. It was seductive, yet predatory. It asked for more, but only for those that could handle her. And 13 well-trained militia found out the truth. Limb locks, pressure points or simply heavy trauma to their head or spine brought their lives to a halt, and most of the guys she faced were equipped with blades and assaults. Talk about poorly executed.

"Look, boys, I'm sorry about what happened to your friends," she spoke with the calming force of a British blizzard. "But if you want to kill me, at least be men and pull the trigger. Pointing guns at me does not reinforce your masculinity… If you even have one."

"Quiet, lady," one of them spoke threateningly, pressing the nuzzle of his assault to her temple, but instead of a whimper he received a chuckle in return.

"You really want to play it rough? I don't think you know you're messing with, rather nice-smelling man. There's no windows in this room, and the door is locked from the outside…"

"What the? How do you know that? You can't even see."

"Maybe. But everything has a temperature, and everything and everybody in this room has a temperature different to mine, so I don't have to see it to know it's there. Call it an alternate perception of the sort."

"Are you threatening me?"

"Please. It wasn't even my best. But since you asked so nicely…" The man that held the cold weapon to her temple looked around him as freezing winds gradually cycloned around the woman's seat, the rest of the men realising that it was snowing. Inside the room. Just as one was about to fire, ice crawled up the rifle and shattered in moments and it wasn't long before everyone else's firearms did the same. "I make sure you regret even touching me."

"How the hell is she doing that?!"

"She's a Meta...crap!"

"Get her to stop, man!"

"Too late. I'm bored now." She broke free thanks to the element freezing the restraints keeping her tied to the chair and, with remarkable speed, floored three men in seconds, her movements leaving a wispy trail where the hands were. The other two, who had to take a moment to realise what happened, began to adapt to the situation by transferring their bodies into a fighting stance; feet spaced apart, fists up to shield their face, knees slightly bent. But the woman sighed as she straightened up from resting on one knee, turning around to face her remaining opponents, blindfolded and without the need to place her body in such position.

"Surprising. I thought a blinded hostage would be easy to apprehend…" She dodged a left hook and countered by grabbing the arm that shot out at her and pulled him towards her, her shoulder slamming into the militia's bulletproof vest with enough force to launch him off his feet and slam into the far wall. "But since this has become an impossible situation, it seems like you're wasting time rather than making me wait for some man in a mask." The last man standing went for a low kick but she blocked with her own and spun around, executing a mid kick that forced him back a step, but she wasn't done yet. The woman launched forward and went for focused hits, every strike sending a shockwave of ice into his vest and, when she felt it consume the entire garment, a more stronger punch burst the vest to glassy fragments.

"Huh―?!" The militia didn't have time to blurt out his sentence because she booted him into the nearest wall and, while he was doubled over to recover, axe-kicked the back of his head and heard bones crack on impact with the floor.

"Huh. Man in a mask…" Her hand reached off to whip the blindfold off her face, revealing her cloudy, lilac eyes, before throwing it onto the floor and sauntering to the door. "Batman better not be rescuing me." Reaching it, she snatched the dark grey half hoodie off a hook and slipped it on before tilting her head at the obstacle in front of her.

"She's in this room."

"She took out five guys, they're all down."

"Boss says to shoot her on sight."

"Really? And just when things were getting better…" The woman snapped her palms and a barrage of ice zoomed through the steel door, impaling the figures outside and she smiled hearing them collapse onto the ground. "Now, if I can find who came to kidnap me and beat his ass, then maybe I'll feel better." Finally regaining her composure, she put a frozen index to the door and traced its shape, pushing it gently when she was finished to have it give way for her. With an approved hum, she stepped on the door, and the bodies under it, and quickly scanned her surroundings before blasting into a bolt down the corridor.

She's been here before, an abandoned 4-star hotel after the owner lost touch with the business with profits plummeting into the darkened abyss. One hell of a place to train, though, especially the grand hall where the guests would meet up for...something. She didn't know, she wasn't familiar with the arts of a 4-star hotel.

The grand hall. Just had to take a left and… She almost stopped when two militia that stood watch had a gun pointed at her, but when she cover-rolled, during the motion, she casted a sheet of ice over the worn-out carpet and giggled at the pathetic sight of the two trying to gain their footing on ice.

"Here," the woman spoke to herself as she dove through the top window to the grand hall, moving into a swift sideflip to daintily land on her feet and let out a sharp but relaxed exhale. She decided it was time to flick her hair out of her hoodie with a sassy hand, which was an unusual colour like her eyes, but couldn't help but let a softer, more flirtatious smile creep onto her freckled face. Definitely not Batman, that's for sure. "Well, hello, my Arkham-wearing...saint of some sort. Who wields awesome guns and has the body of...a god."

Whoever stood several tens of metres in front of her donned a futuristic version of what the rest of the militia wore in this place, accents of red streaking along his clothing and a sagging utility belt, with a streamlined, bat-eared helmet that blurred out his identity, and a chestplate that resembled the Arkham symbol. His gun didn't waver as he stepped forward once, his steps almost soundless. She glared at his feet for a brief moment; he was being careful, light-footed. The militia weren't even close. This must be their leader. Only problem was that brief moment ended up with him pulling the trigger.

And in that brief moment, she almost lost her guard. Thankfully her defence mechanism froze the bullet before it reached her, bouncing off her chest before clattering to the ground encased in tinted ice.

" **Keep your eyes on me,"** he spoke firmly, the helmet tuning his voice with a demonic hum.

She flipped up her palms, "Remember you just tried to kill me."

" **I know who you are. Might not be on the database, but you're there… Alias."**

"Still not dropping the fact you tried to kill me, but as least someone knows who I am. Really hate being called 'woman' and 'lady'. Oh, and don't even get me started on 'sweetie'."

" **You're a Meta Mercenary, specialised in stealth. You're known not to leave behind any trace, since your manipulation in ice and infrared perception allows you to have control of any situation. Like this one. I bet you're memorising my body heat, how much I'm exerting."**

"I won't lie, it's what I do. But less about me, I want to know about you…" Alias began to stroll up to him carefully, watching his trigger finger tighten slightly but didn't attempt to stop. "Yeah. You're intriguing. I bet someone fed you to a pack of wolves and you came back drenched in their blood. Don't worry… I did too. So tell me…" She stopped when the nuzzle was at her neck. "Who are you?"

" **They call me the Arkham Knight."**

She chuckled, "Cute name… But I've heard that every villain here's launching a mass attack against Batman, with Scarecrow leading the charge, am I correct?"

 **"You're not mistaken."**

"Then I want in. Like everyone else, I have a thing against him, and I want to make sure...the last time I see him, is on his deathbed."

 **"Didn't think you were a grudge-holding type."**

"Didn't think you'd psychologically attack Batman, but I guess we all got surprises."

 **"How did―"**

"The ears, for a start... The fact you have bat ears and wielding guns is making Batman think... Who did I have to break to cause such a scar? Who did I leave behind that he's forgetting his own sense of morality?"

 **"You don't know me."**

"Maybe not, Knight, but if I manage to persuade Scarecrow I'll know more than you..." Her palm encircled the barrel of the gun as she leaned in close to where his ear would be. "So promise we'll meet again. Everyone else is boring." And just like that, Alias let go of his gun and turned around before silently walking off and flicking her hair once again. And that was when he watched her use her power, her hands surrounded by an icy mist as a glacier shot her into the air, the Meta Mercenary vanishing through the cracked window a second later and the Arkham Knight put his iron sight down.

"That, was Alias?" Someone had asked him through his mask, the Knight sliding his pistol into the empty holster.

 **"Yeah. I thought they were rumours but..."**

"She proves to be a valuable ally."

 **"And a pain in my ass."**

"We must be prepared to adapt to changing situations, Knight. We shall see what she is planning to do, but for now, keep an eye on her."

 **"Understood."**


	2. Predatory

She stood cross-armed on a vantage point that overlooked the well-guarded control tower in Founder's Island that had been built 20 minutes ago, mentally marking the number of armed men that held their post and wandered around in directed paths to ensure that security was kept at a constant. The calm before the storm; her rosy lips stretched into a subtle smile.

Not anymore.

Targeting her closest enemy, she sprung forward and moved, at what most spectators would say the speed of light, directly towards her target and brought him down easily by pushing all the momentum she picked up onto his back and using him as a human surfboard for a second. The sound of impact was loud enough to be heard by any one of his allies that were close enough so she kept moving, keeping low and passing them undetected.

Whilst two black-clad militia went to check out their unconscious friend, the woman was already up the stairs and sneaking behind an unfortunate guy leisurely passing the control room door who wasn't going to know what hit him. Literally. When she knew she was in close proximity she kicked the back of his knee and brought her hand to his neck, transferring his entire body onto her shoulders like some sort of rack; he kicked and choked against her chokehold, and she rolled her eyes as she flipped him over her and slammed a knee into his face. "You're too loud."

Bullets flew past her and she looked up, another militia attempting to fire at her despite his rapid heartbeat that was sending his aim all over the place. She'd give him points for trying, though. "B-boss! She's here!"

"And you're boring," she replied as she dove for him, jumping so that she trapped his body in a octopus hold with her legs and reached for the furthest arm. He must've thought it was some sort of wrestling match because he tapped her arm persistently, but she didn't care and heaved his shoulder out of place with the crack sounding heavy and sickening. She let him drop to the floor an unconscious mess and shrugged her hoodie back in place, almost crying out in shock when strong arms curled around her body and swept her off her feet. Alias fought against their strength, wanting to break out of the submission hold by using the wall beside her, but her attacker must've seen through her tactic because they moved her away. But then she chuckled. "You...underestimate me…"

She timed three counts before kicking both legs off the floor, an ice wall magically appearing in front of her as well as behind them, and she forcefully pushed against the wall in front. Her attacker lost balance and slammed into their own wall, the force enough to loosen the hold and the Meta didn't waste time as she swung her legs over, crossed them over their head and flung her upper body down. She let inertia and gravity run its course as they both went pinwheeling down the stairs and onto the floor, with Alias the fastest to recover as she rolled onto her feet. "Oh~," she smirked, elongating the word when her eyes fell upon the Arkham Knight who was just getting off the floor, and the ice walls collapsed into tiny shards. "So it's you...surprising."

" **You've got a bad habit of fighting my militia, lady,"** he snapped back coldly, the lips hidden underneath stretching to a cocky smirk when he watched her face stiffen up before relaxing just as fast.

"You have a bad habit of trying to be intimidating. Besides, I wasn't done taking out your guys. I have 4 left. Would you let me finish?"

" **No."** Alias flipped back and landed on one knee as she dodged his customised grappling hook, gathering the cold around her to form a shield as he repeatedly fired at her.

"You want to kill me. Again. Are you that persistent?" She leapt back onto her feet to shake the mild trauma off her right arm, using a quick hand to strip off her hoodie and dash it aside to display her well-endowed figure but the Arkham wasn't close to fazed as he had been watching the spilling light-violet snakes for a while now, and she spun it above her head before cracking it. A whip made of tinted ice, its idle motions possessing the realism of a normal whip. He wondered how adept she was in using ice. Could she freeze a city? A nation? Nevermind, he didn't want to be there to witness it. "I'll give you a shot, Knight. Don't waste it."

Without warning, she sprinted flat out towards him, ready to unleash her subtle might, but slowed in her tracks as she felt something overwhelm her senses. There was another Meta in the area, an unidentifiable one, someone she seemed to have come across during her stay here. They'd managed to brush past her, but now she caught onto their scent. The whip had dissipated into frost and the Arkham Knight grunted in triumph, finding an advantage quicker than he imagined.

He landed a heavy punch on her cheek and her head recoiled on impact, the Meta Mercenary peering at him before stealing one of his guns and shooting his head but realised she missed completely as he tilted his head to the side. He copied her and used his other pistol, finding her also avoiding the bullet but she flicked the weapon out his hand and served him a boot to the stomach, the Knight meeting the wall adjacent to the stairs with a harsh thud. Letting out a breath, he instinctively blocked a couple alternating straight punches and ducked a spinning roundhouse, Alias's movement speed gaining with every attack they performed. She had found an opening and dragged him towards her, using his momentum to backflip off the wall and, once she came down, capturing him in an inverted chokehold.

" **Nice,"** he commented on her fighting style, holding onto her shoulder with a gloved hand. **"Although, I think your technique lacks something."** She widened her eyes and noticed her mistake; he brought his foot up and pushed off the vertical surface, holding her arm as his world turned, and dragged her across his body with small effort. She bounced on the constructed rooftop and coughed on the last few tumbles, finding the Arkham Knight holding her tight by the throat, and she glanced up at him. " **Well, don't you look so weak down there.** "

"Having fun, are we?" She smiled, tensing up slightly when he reached behind him and took out a portable syringe filled with a honey-brown serum, but just by looking at it she knew exactly what it was. The fear toxin, made to cause severe psychological trauma to its victims and permanent damage if too much was consumed. But Alias didn't shy away from the needle as he stabbed it into her neck, and the wave of sudden searing pain washed over her, her muscles locking together and her teeth barring out of reflex.

" **Scarecrow wants to talk, but I didn't think you'd simply waltz in and remember the location."** Dark brown veins popped up under her freckled face and danced down her neck, her hands clamping onto his own in an attempt to free herself even though she knew she couldn't.

"You...really are...intriguing…"Alias faintly breathed out as her hand reached out for his masked face, and blacked out in the next moment with her risen head and hand falling limp onto the cold floor, and the Knight brought a hand up to his ear.

" **Alias is down. Calling for extraction."**

"Sir."

OoOoO

Blindfolded and tied up, again.

She had regained consciousness faster than she thought, since it did take her some time to freeze the fear toxin that poisoned her blood, but she kept quiet as the sound of conversation spurred her attention. It was funny, though, since she knew exactly where she was even though she's never been here. Judging by the temperature, she'd guess the run-down mall on Founders'. Somewhere above ground level, anyway. Ground level and below was actually warmer by a few digits, maybe they're planning something under all that rubble and dirt. But there were a couple things that ticked her off.

The first thing was the childish, suggestive sniggering that echoed around her; three armed men with all of them somewhat excited. This was a first, usually most people that tie her up intend on killing her. "I still can't believe the boss gave us the keys to the room," the one behind her spoke up, placing his firearm on the floor. Biggest mistake in the presence of a mercenary. The second thing was when one of them decided it was okay to grab her by the neck to establish his dominance, and brought his face extremely close to hers. "In this room, sweetheart...you listen to me."

"Charming. But you're not my type." Alias smiled and the militia chuckled before striking her face with a hard slap, the other two sounding amused at the display. The Meta kept quiet, regaining control of her head and neck as she straightened up, but what happened after was the last strike. One of the men from behind held her in her chair by the shoulders while another confronted her, leaned forward and began stroking her inner thighs. That was the third thing.

"It's a shame, though," the man in front told her. "All these dirty things I wanna do, and can do, but you're sitting here. Defenceless."

Alias tilted her head, "So, you don't know who I am?"

"What―"

"Good. That means I get to kill you." Alias snapped her leg into his knee with strength enough to shatter his kneecap and the militia screamed in twisted agony as he instantly dropped to the floor. She waited for the other two to respond to either her or their friend crying and clutching their now broken knee, and guessed correctly at their tactic. One tried grabbing for her hair but she rolled forward, her icy aura freezing the chair and therefore having it break apart, and dusted herself off casually. "You're first," she told him, indicating her target by pointing her manicured finger, and stepped back. The militia let out a worried sound as she had left her frozen afterimage in her place and she was nowhere to be seen.

"Crap! Where did she―" It was quick. Unexpected. His head left his body as a katana made of ice sliced through his neck entirely. The spray of blood did not only decorate the floor in red, but added a gory glisten to the bladed weapon. His sentence would now stay unfinished, in eternity, as the Meta Mercenary let his corpse slump to the cold floor. His head, however, was used as a distraction as a reverse roundhouse sent it flying to the fit militia. He had caught it out of reflex and let it slip from his hands, nothing but this cold sensation run through him. Not in fear. In anger.

He drew out his gun out of instinct, for the Arkham Knight trained him if a circumstance like this were to arise. And it did. Only he made the greatest mistake of taking his eyes off her and became a sudden platform for her to roll off, and let out a gut-wrenching scream as she had driven her sword through his right thigh in a diagonal cut. It wasn't long before the door had burst open and several more militia littered in the room, and Alias glanced off her shoulder as she straightened up.

She laughed, fluttery and gentle, with all those eyes and all those weapons calling her name. But her smile dropped. She was incredibly angry. Some scream when they are angry. Alias was known to channel it instead, and this was what made her a mercenary by heart. She twirled both katanas with her wrists and slowly confronted her new opponents, the hazy mist gradually cracking the surface of skin around her freckled cheeks, nose and eyes. It didn't just enhance her infrared perception on the molecular level but gave her that boost when she needed it. Her aura became visible as dry winds. Alias moved.

Wet, coppery, sticky. Lightning-fast, adeptly skilled, hidden eyes. Firearms, disarmed and disassembled. People, chopped to size. Ice, dry. Zero. Dead.

It took her a moment to realise what she was doing and she took a step back, lowly panting at the bloody carnage that surrounded her. Limbs were cut off, bodies were decapitated, blood stained the floor in a pool of deep crimson. Blood decorated her person, painting her skin, clothes and hair in blotchy splashes. She had purposely left the last man to suffer and struggle with his broken kneecap, let his life seep out one breath at a time. "You." Alias sauntered over to him and knelt down, tilting her head with a pout on her face before standing up again. "It's a shame, though." A boot to the face made the man collapse onto his stomach, and with no arms to drag himself away he tried squirming for freedom instead but felt pressure on his back. "All these things I could've done to you...your death could've been worse. Much worse."

She brought her hand from her side and aimed the pistol he had previously thrown down at his head, using her thumb to pull back the safety. His pleas of mercy rang about the room, but it only made her tighten her grip. Bang. Another life taken, just like that. She didn't want those memories to arise again.. That's why she had to kill them. That's why she was made to kill them.

A gun clicked and Alias moved her covered eyes, remembering this certain heat signature. She hesitated, threw the gun away and turned around to face the Arkham Knight with a relaxed face. "They tried me. You saw they they did, what they tried to do."

" **You just killed a few of my best men."**

"With the intention to force me into sexual submission against my will. That's why they lie on the floor, dead, in pieces, rather than standing around me. On guard, like you ordered. Next time your men pull off something like that ever, expect not to see their bodies." Her voice was cold, chilling, sharp enough to cut, the the Knight didn't flinch. Didn't retaliate to her words. Her hand reached up and pulled the blindfold off her face, in which she tossed at his masked face, and sauntered to the door. "If you need me, I'll be talking to Scarecrow about my place in this alliance. And finding a new outfit to wear, it's covered in their blood."

"There's no need," a soft voice spoke out and she felt the air get colder by a couple .degrees, a cloaked figure emerging from the shadows of the room with clunky steps as they stepped over and around her organic destruction. "I've seen everything I need to know." His speech was clear, careful, unhurried. Logical.

" **What?"** The Knight protested, his gun still pointed at her. **"No―I say kill her. Did you not see what she did?"**

"And I say not to. Alias is a valuable asset that we can use to our advantage, Knight. Batman knows not of her existence; we can use her anonymity in our favour. Someone that can cause destruction and chaos. The evidence of her skill is under your feet."

" **And what if she turns against you? What she turns my whole army against you? Huh? 'cause I think the possibility of her putting a bullet in your head is very high. Hell, probably higher than killing Batman, but we can't hope too much, can we?"**

"Tell me something, Arkham Knight." Alias interrupted as she pushed herself off the door with a foot and walked up to the ambiguous man, her eyes frozen lasers against his visor whilst his iron sight was a inch or two away from her forehead. "Are you immune to the fear toxin? Are you immune to the fears that cling and stick to you? No. You're not. You weren't trained to kill, you were taught to kill. Being trained and being taught are two different things. You were taught to hold a gun, I was trained to pull the trigger. You were taught to defend yourself. I, was trained to fight. Trained to make sure that the person I fight doesn't get up. See, we have our fair share of differences, Knight, but having me on your side will make your job so much easier."

"She has a point, Knight," Scarecrow chimed in, walking across to the three mostly-intact corpses to glare down at them. "You will get your revenge, but we must change the rules if needs be. You need a shadow, and Alias is experienced enough to be that shadow. Operation: Saviour would be able to progress faster if we have another pawn."

The Arkham Knight didn't respond to their statements but put his gun back in the holster, pushed past Alias and violently booted the door off its hinges, earning but a sigh from the Meta Mercenary. "Is he always like that?"

"His emotional state has been stable...until now, that is."

"Strange…"

"Your payment will be wired to your account once Operation: Saviour has been completed. I have assigned you to the Arkham Knight's unit. Failure to comply will result in your imminent demise. I suggest you don't take my words lightly, Alias." She smiled and turned to face the door, only to look off her shoulder with a hazy look. Scarecrow was a mysterious man like the Knight, but his words were coated with intellectual film like his eyes that stood out against his heavy, fabric features. Then she suspected if he took inspiration from Freddy Krueger as his needle-gauntlet contraption looked vaguely similar to the killer's 'knives for fingers'.

"I'll make sure not to disappoint you."


	3. Bond

**Quick AN; I have the habit of writing middle/end chapters then writing the first chapters later, I did it here because this was actually supposed to be a oneshot. But I got carried away. Hopefully I got his character right (and not how some people think he is...). Enjoy.**

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The Arkham Knight was pissed.

Not only did she manage to persuade Scarecrow into joining, and did this by showing her strange immunity to his fear toxin and took out a further 7 armed men, but somehow he found himself being stuck with her. And the alluring smile on her face emphasised just how pleased she was with herself. She wore something different the last time he spoke to her; a silk cardigan with a Chinese dragon snaking up her back and left sleeve and a revealing bodysuit that drew attention to her breasts than any other part of her body. A silver anklet encircled her ankle, with a chunky bracelet to match and this time, she surprisingly straightened her hair.

"Lighten up," she told him, noticing how tightly he gripped the steering wheel by the tension of his leather gloves. "You could've been sitting here with someone you don't like."

 **"Aren't I doing that already?"**

"You don't like me? That's a shame. I'd like me."

 **"I really hate narcissistic people."**

"It's not being narcissistic if you're having to compete with a man without a face."

 **"And you're referring to me?"**

"Yeah," she sighed, placing her elbow on the vehicle door and held her jaw in her palm. "You sound attractive, even with the modulator."

 **"Funny."**

"...fine. I'll shut up, since engaging in small talk might probably get me shot. Again, again." Twirling a lock with a finger, Alias glared out the window to examine the world outside the armoured jeep; torn posters, closed shops and abandoned houses and cars. Then there was the actuality under the morals, with riots at almost every corner, a police car pursuing their suspects and then there was them. A Meta Mercenary and the Arkham Knight, both dangerous in different ways that actually compliment each other. Ice, something seen to be beautiful and elegant, and guns, known to be ruthless and direct with its purpose.

A mix made in limbo, because heaven and hell doesn't exist in a world like this.

Just as the ambiguous man turned the junction with an encrypted bomb deep into the concrete, something sparked in Alias's mind and she glared up at the buildings with a close eye, knowing that whatever she was going to find wasn't going to be on their side. Without warning, she opened the floor and jumped out, rolling on the ground before recovering swiftly and heard another door slam shut.

 **"What the fuck do you think you're doing? Are you stupid?"**

"Unless that was a compliment, I don't think so…"

" **You're seriously testing my intent to kill you."**

"I'm surprised you haven't yet. I just got this feeling..." A small spot of heat emanated from her temple and she raised a brow, leaning out of the way when the shot went off. "Why does everyone want to kill me? Is this a thing now? I'm not such an easy target, am I?"

 **"How did you―"**

"Like you've said before, walking Wikipedia: infrared perception. So, shall we deal with them so they're not more of a hassle than they already are?" The Arkham Knight reached behind him for his pistols before putting one of them in an upright position, twisting his wrist slightly as a barrel extended from the safety, and brought the other pistol to the muzzle, Alias watching in wonderment as his weapons became a sniper rifle.

 **"Let's go."**

"Guess we are gonna have some fun. Scared of heights?"

 **"No."**

"So straightforward. I like that." The icy mist accumulated off her hands again as she stepped back and gestured her hand upwards, an ice tower erupting under the Knight's feet that had launched him into the air with enough momentum to reach the rooftop. He flipped onto one knee and felt the cold breeze of Alias as she landed beside him, already marking out their enemies. "There's 8, two are unarmed. Definitely not friendlies."

 **"Then it shouldn't be a problem. I'll wait for your signal."** A soft smile stretched across her face as he brought out some sort of grappling hook and whisked into the air, giving her complete control of what was about to happen to 8 poor guys. Not like she cared about their safety, they weren't on her side. End of. Alias picked up a convenient lone brick by her foot and threw it at a convenient lone window that was perched against a short flight of steps, the sound of it smashing alerting those that were closest and they rushed to find, and not find, Batman standing there. But no, it was only her, and even so they fired at her, becoming more agitated as they found their rounds surrounded by ice on the floor.

"Let's try that again," she whispered as she brought out her arms beside her, her eyes glowing a fierce neon as frosty winds were summoned from a mere breeze to a violent blizzard in seconds, impairing her enemies' vision as well as creating anti-pockets so the Arkham Knight could take them out one by one. Her hair whipped against her face for only 10 seconds as she had calmed down the winds after that, humming in satisfaction as he landed beside her with all eight bodies on the floor with a hole in their heads and blood pooling out. But Alias pointed at one, "There's two bullets in him."

 **"He didn't drop fast enough,"** he replied as he reloaded one of his guns, the Meta kicking over one who had fallen on their stomach and widened her eyes at the insignia sewn to their bulletproof vest. Syndicate, the small organisation that made Alias and the same organisation she sent burning to the ground. Too many haunting memories swirled within her mind and she shook her head, passing the Knight who kept his digital gaze on her. He wanted to say something, her body language expressing loneliness, but she let out a calm puff of air and placed a hand on her hip.

"I know you've got questions."

 **"Who are they?"**

"You guys know them as the organisation that never existed. I know them as Syndicate. They specialise in genetic modification, and I was the first...successful Meta they managed to create."

 **"You were a part of these guys?"**

"You say it as if I had a choice," she snapped back, walking up to him as she said her sentence before biting her bottom lip. The Alias that stood before him, was one stripped of something human. "I was used against my will."

 **"Didn't mean to ask."**

"No, you were curious. I'm just wondering who made them post in Gotham. In any case, these guys can't be the last of them. Let's go." Alias began walking to the edge and expected for him to be beside her, only to be swept off the rooftop and she let out a surprised squeal as they whisked through the air. It felt comforting in a weird way, the way his arm was around her waist and how he pressed her against his body. It was almost too comforting to be true. Suddenly her senses narrowed and her head snapped to a black-clad militia with an RPG aiming right at them. "Knight―!" Her hands came up just as the militia fired, her icy shield strong enough to stop it exploding in their faces but not enough to absorb the shockwave. The Arkham Knight had lost his grip on her and their forced, altered trajectory flung them into the ceiling window of a warehouse, the shattered glass and violet ice decorating the rug they recklessly landed on and they gradually came to a stop.

The Knight recovered first, pressing himself off the floor and realised that Alias had gone awfully quiet. " **Alias...you okay?"** He heard her moan breathlessly and crawled towards her, noting her unconscious state by her lack of interaction, and placed a hand under her neck with his thumb cupping her cheek. " **Can you hear me?"** She moaned again and weakly covered his hand with hers, and couldn't fight the smile that faintly embroidered her glossy lips.

"Don't tell me you're...getting soft on me...Knight."

" **We can't stay here. They'll circle the place and investigate for bodies, and we're too exposed."**

"Hmm...we still need to...get rid of them."

" **We'll talk about that later, but right now we're leaving."** He held onto her arm, draped it over his shoulder and hooked his arms under her knees and lower back. She pressed her head against his chest once he got her off the floor and listened to the sound of his heartbeat under all his armour. It wasn't slow but it wasn't quick either, just paced enough to conclude his worry towards her. The Arkham Knight, worried about a woman who he wanted to kill?

That was beyond her.

He had put her down when they were in the elevator, and he hit the last button on the panel before stepping back and letting out a long exhale. " **You okay?"** He echoed his words and reached behind him for his modified pistols. She dusted off her clothes and pressed her back on the elevator wall, her eyes casted on his bat-ears.

"I'll be fine. I didn't think something like that would cause a mild concussion."

" **You did take an RPG head-on. Why did you do that?"**

"What?"

" **Sacrifice yourself."**

"I didn't. I only raised my guard and blocked it. Besides, even if I did I'd have my own reasons. Nothing personal."

" **...whatever you say. Just warn me next time."**

"You wouldn't have reacted fast enough. Also, I suggest you use the emergency shaft. 5 armed men are waiting on the ground floor. A surprise attack wouldn't hurt, right?"

" **And what about you?"**

"I'll be your decoy." The Knight let out a sound and shot out of the metal box in seconds, the Meta Mercenary fixing her hair and gathering the cold around her with her aura surrounded by chilly whispers and her eyes closed. How did she let that happen? A simple explosion knocked her out. She's suffered worse and yet couldn't handle an explosion.

The corner of her lips curled down slightly. An error that would've lead to her death. How pathetic.

She ignored the pointless conversation of the Syndicate militia waiting for them as their voices got louder and louder, and didn't give them the chance to react to her presence as she let out a forceful blast that threw all men off their feet. The hazy mist was already burning against her face as she casually walked out of the elevator, a round sounding off. She knelt down next to one of the militia still dazed from her elemental attack and smashed his jaw with her knee and ducked under the Knight's roundhouse to deal with the man in mid-swing. She used her cardigan to stun her opponent and went for quick strikes, executing a spinning back kick to his chest cavity when his breathing got faster and heavier. Her attacker slumped to the ground and she turned around just as the Knight countered a punch and shot his opponent in the face and was half-glad he left one for interrogation. She was just more surprised he reached the last man first and effortlessly held him in the air in a chokehold.

" **Who sent you?"** he spoke bitterly, his gun just under the man's chin, and Alias kicked an arm out of her path as the hazy mist vanished.

"Why would I―"

"I don't think he stuttered," she interrupted as she materialised beside the Arkham Knight in a shimmer of light violet ice and startled their interrogatee. "Did you hear him stutter? No, and neither did I. I suggest you answer him."

" **I won't ask again."**

"I was just ordered here, I swear! Our leader never shows her face, she just tells us what to do―!"

"Did she order you to kill me?"

"That's confi―" A blade sung through the air and it took the Knight a moment to realise her fast adaption, and held her elemental weapon to his throat. Now they looked more like a team, bonded by the intent to kill whoever's in their way. The Arkham Knight and a Meta Mercenary, a match made in limbo. His cold, livewire face with her cloudy eyes made the man shrink in terror.

"You're Syndicate, the non-existent organisation that made me and should be charred to nothing. Unless they want their weapon back, they have to try harder than this. So why are you here?"

"I-I told you the truth! We were just ordered here! I swear!"

" **That sounds more like an excuse. Sorry, but you've just ran out of time."** Their interrogatee begged for his life and Alias turned away from the execution, still annoyed by her vulnerability and crossed her arms. The Arkham Knight carelessly tossed the dead interrogatee away and peered off his shoulder, Alias's silence bringing up his uneasiness again.

"I never wanted this, you know," she started. "I never wanted to be a mercenary, I never wanted to kill people. Sometimes I forget things, sometimes I remember everything. But what happened to me in that place...it's a blur of torture, screaming and frozen skin. I get nightmares of what happened to me, but they're never the same. Which is why I can never trust Syndicate, because I'm afraid they messed with my memories as well. I can't even remember my own name." The Knight paused in motion before he turned around to face her back, placing his firearm back in its holster.

" **Why are you telling me this? You don't know me."**

"I never grew up with friends, having the social skills to maintain any relationships, and if I did I don't remember them." She sighed. "Understanding that you obviously don't like me and not vice versa, I was assigned to your unit. So we're gonna work together until the end. So just promise me something, Knight."

" **You really are a kid."**

"And kids are cruel," she softly replied as she turned to glance at his digital facade. "So what do you say? Can you make a deal with a living demon, or are you waiting to turn into one yourself?" He froze on the inside. Her gentle voice alongside her smile, it was...it was almost like she saw into his soul, his black, torn soul filled with what he used to be. Alias shrugged with her hands raised, "I'm guessing your eerie silence is a yes. How amusing, the Arkham Knight willing to bet everything and anything on a woman he wants to kill. I'm looking forward to how this story ends." The Meta stared at the well-barricaded doors several metres away from the elevator and sauntered to it, not waiting up for the ambiguous man as she gestured with her hand and glassy violet rose from the ground.

" **We both know how it ends. Gotham's legend erased from existence."** She smirked and clenched her fist, the doors shattering to her will as her ice infected its woody core and rearranged its structure. Its once solid build collapsed onto the scarred ground in elemental fragments and she stepped outside. Two vehicles whizzed past her, a blaring police car chasing a muscle car of thugs. To her right, a couple of rioters ran in her opposite direction and to her right was one of Syndicate's vehicles; left abandoned by a failed raid.

"Good. That means you can keep a promise."


	4. Rex

Alias kept quiet to the Knight's dismay, catching glances of him before diverting her sight to what was in front of them, her face in a soft frown, soft enough that he almost couldn't tell. He knew it was about tonight's recent events, her helplessness, Syndicate's confrontation. It messed with her emotional state and created awkward tension in the vehicle, even though it seemed her confidence was brought back momentarily.

Can you make a deal with a living demon, or are you waiting to turn into one yourself?

They arrived at their destination, and she waited patiently for him to park properly and turn off the ignition before getting out, a distant glare in her eyes. It seemed strange not hearing her voice, not hearing her laugh and talk about anything on her mind; like she was simply out of her own character. He wasn't sure what drove him to do this, to be honest he was shocked with himself, but he walked up to her and held out his leather hand; Alias furrowed her brows together in confusion, trying to decipher what the Arkham Knight was playing at even though he was looking away to apparently hide whatever expression was on that robotic face of his.

"What are you doing?"

 **"What do you think?"**

She tilted her head. "Doesn't seem of you."

 **"Don't get used to it."** After a short moment of silence, her face lit up as a flowery chuckle escaped her glossy lips, a faint tinge to her freckled cheeks as she held a hand to her mouth; gently, she placed her hand in his and suddenly felt the sense of security once she felt him tighten his grip. She didn't think to question why he did it, didn't think about the motives he was leading on because she realised there was none, and when the security door to his hideout opened to reveal numbers of armed men, to find the Arkham Knight holding hands with the same woman who took down around 30 of these guys... It felt good, knowing that they knew the difference between the couple and the group. Superiority, ruthlessness and bonds surpassing the strength of steel.

It was almost touching, the way the sea of armoured men parted for them as the Knight led the way with Alias a mere step behind, her eyes glancing at masked faces and wondering if they were thinking how could someone like her manage to hold hands with a man used to the cold metal of his guns.

The answer was simple, actually.

Reaching the elevator, the doors had opened with a henchmen already inside but he didn't have a mask to hide his identity, his battle-hardened face contrasting his emerald eyes and blonde, curly hair.

 **"This is Rex,** " the Arkham Knight told her, with the man named Rex winking in response to his name. **"He's gonna be your right-hand man. Apparently, he was wondering if you could teach him your style of fighting."**

"Is that so?" Alias hummed, raising her brows as she analysed Rex who stood at least an inch taller than the Knight but she kept that fact to herself. "I would love to teach someone as keen as you." Rex smiled in response but didn't say a word, which made her look at the Knight for an answer as to why.

 **"He's had his fair share of leaders, but his last one cut out his vocal cords."** Alias gasped breathlessly, narrowing her violet gaze on the blonde man but his smile didn't fade. She didn't understand why he was smiling as he was literally stripped of his freedom of speech. He smiled, even though he's unable to call anyone's name, laugh at funny moments in time or even hum. What kind of life was Rex living? **"Don't feel bad for him. He's one of the best I've had."**

"But he has no voice...a man without a voice, is a man trapped in his own hell."

 **"Alias―"**

"No. Rex, I promise you. I will find your voice." The Arkham Knight sighed as the doors opened once again, Alias letting her inner thoughts change her subtle face into one riddled with unanswered questions while she was being led down the corridor, Rex walking behind the couple with steps as silent as their own. Why wasn't someone doing anything about it, was what she wanted to know.

But for some reason, she didn't want to know. Because the answer was still holding her hand.

 **"Here."** The Knight stopped at a door encrusted with silver embroidery, having to let go of Alias's hand in order to take out the keycard from his pocket. It didn't take long for him to open the door, it was just that the Meta didn't want to get in the room. **"What's wrong now, hm? I let you hold my hand, what, you wanna make out or something?"**

"Next time..."

 **"There won't be a next time."**

"You're right." And out of nowhere, she grabbed onto the Arkham Knight's sleeve, pulled him in towards her and kissed his digital mask. Rex's face dropped the instant he knew what was going to happen, and stayed still until Alias forcefully pulled away and wiping his visor, smiling briefly before stepping into the room with her arms crossed. "Now, as I was saying before I was romantically interrupted, someone was in here."

 **"That's impossible,"** the ambiguous man told her, no hint of disgust in his modified tone to assert his superiority, even in forced situations such as the one he was involved in. **"There's encrypted locks on both this door and the balcony door."**

She scanned the room again, a misty blue haze rising upon her eyes once again to see the carpet covered in footprints that have almost become the same temperature as the room itself. There were heat signatures everywhere, it pretty much looked like a smudge on a canvas with colours that faded into the background. "Then encrypt it even more...we have an intruder. More like, a Meta."

 **"Rex is the Meta."** Alias pivoted on her heels, a look of soft shock on her face.

"What."

 **"After his voice was removed, he went through extensive treatment at a facility that he doesn't remember. It couldn't reverse the damage, but he can see and phase through solid objects as well as teleport and manipulate ionic energy."**

"That's amazing...I almost killed you, Rex. Sorry." Rex shook his head with a smirk, indicating that he kindly took her answer, and acknowledged her new environment. Pastel walls, a king-size bed, lush carpet and rugs, chandeliers, even a dressing table with lights. Unconsciously, Alias stripped off her silk cardigan and stretched onto her tiptoes, took off her glassy heels and fell backwards onto her bed with a sensual sigh. "Comfortable…hey, Rex. Sit with me."

The Knight watched as Rex reluctantly followed her command and sat at the front of the bed, and Alias swayed over to him before she slid her arms around his torso and pressed her head against his. " **Don't try and seduce my men. I will personally kill you."**

"His heat signature is constant, even when I'm near him. You're not scared of me?" She glared at Rex with warming eyes and received a smile in return, and felt the need to hug him tighter; this had never happened before. Nobody, apart from the Knight, has ever made her feel so...relaxed. Like she could drop her guard and not have to worry.

" **Alias, no time for resting, you have been assigned with a job by Scarecrow. Think you can not fuck it up?"**

"I'm a mercenary. The last thing I quote unquote fucked up was when I allowed myself to be born into Syndicate. I'm not making mistakes like that again." As she spoke she slid away from Rex and to the edge of the bed, her head slowly rising as she run into her last sentence so that the Knight could see the seriousness in her eyes. He guessed after what happened earlier she wasn't going to joke around and, judging by the darkened glisten, she was going to live by her words.

" **Appreciate your professionalism."**

She rolled her eyes and moved to slide her heels back on. "Don't get used to it...so, where does he want me? In the shadows, I'm guessing? Pulling strings that Batman didn't know he was attached to?"

" **There's some men that he wants erased in this city. They're surprisingly still here and they know too much that they could jeopardise the operation."**

"Ooooh...multi-target assassination, huh? You're too kind, Knight."

" **He's apparently trusting you on this. I don't know why since you just joined but, I won't say any more."**

"Good, because you were starting to annoy me. Just tell me where they are and I'll be on my way."

" **Oh, no no. Not just you. You're taking Rex with you. Don't worry, he won't slow you down."** She peered at the Meta with inviting eyes as he stood up and fixed his militia jacket, tapping his shoulder to possibly indicate a weapon of some sort.

"I wouldn't mind someone as handsome as you to join me, since the Knight is busy playing leader and all. He definitely won't have time for me…" She smiled sinfully as she swayed towards the Knight, pressing her body up against his and hugged his arm with affection while ignoring his digital gaze that burned her face. "And I was just starting to fall in love too…I guess now you have competition."

" **Rex, could you give us a moment?"**

"Oh, no wonder there's a king-size bed in here," she blushed deeply as Rex respectfully ushered himself out the room and didn't even react when the ambiguous man pushed her away from him and stepped to the mirror; just tall enough to see his entire profile. "I knew it would have more than one function. Pick, top or bottom?"

" **Could you be any more serious?"**

"Sarcasm. Cute, but I'm just trying to de-stress you. You're acting kinda strange."

" **You don't know me."**

"You said that already and you're right, but when you're playing alongside villains who don't even like you and are waiting for the chance to backstab each other...then I'm gonna have to."

" **Why are you even here?"**

"Because I don't have any other choice, Knight. I'm here because I'm an attention-seeking mercenary, who wants whatever she wishes but as the world is cruel and judgemental I have to kill to get what I want. I'm here because of Batman." The Knight peered off her shoulder when he heard his ex-mentor's name, Alias crossing her arms tight in front of her chest and moving her weight to her other leg. "I'm here because I wasn't given a chance. The same could be said for you, no?"

" **If you think you're trying to get under my skin, it's isn't working―."**

"Admit it." She started sauntering towards him, her heels creating eerie echoes in the already tense atmosphere. "You're probably using every single person in this building to get back at him, aren't you? You were given the money to build an army, the power to control it, and the intellect to be one step after the Dark Knight. Let's be honest, you need someone like me. Someone who understands." Alias stopped moving when he had turned around and his iron sight was aimed at her head, his slightly heaving shoulders expressing the rage he was attempting to control, and her smile dropped.

" **I won't warn you again, Alias."**

"So it was working? You are a really good liar, Knight." She flicked her light pink hair as she moved away from him, leaving her silk cardigan on the bed and instead took the half grey hoodie that hung on the nearby peg by the door. Just as she slipped it on, she fought the urge to look back at him and coiled her fingers around the doorknob. "I'm expecting some sort of surprise when I finish my assignment. Would make regret killing you earlier not have to be such an annoyance."

Once the door closed, she balled the fabric at her chest in sudden release and Rex held her shoulder in reassuring concern. That was...that was haunting. I mean, at first, she thought he was toying with her to see how far she would go but his voice...She shivered, the hairs on the nape of her neck standing on end. The Knight was assertive but she didn't think he'd be...threatening, intimidating. Almost reminded her of…

She let out a breath. "Is he always like that?" Rex made a questionable face, then pursed his lips as he twisted his open palm from side to side. "So he does get angry. Do you get used to it?" This time, he nodded. "I knew he has a soft spot...think he'll get used to me?" He nodded again before flashing her a playful wink. Alias smiled; Rex was fun, unlike some masked commanders... "Okay then. Let's go have some fun, Rex."


	5. Cold

Every person in that abandoned hall wondered who the hell she was, since she wasn't common to any of them in the slightest of ways. He just needed a couple of minutes of their time to reassess their situation and thread the Meta into the fabric of inevitability. The Riddler, Harley Quinn, Two Face, The Penguin and the new face by the name of the Arkham Knight acting as Scarecrow's voice and actions. They had all been sitting around a conference table when she walked in, Knight's words introducing her to the villainous group, and the first person to retaliate was Dent who had drawn out his gun and pointed it at her.

"Who the hell are you?" Two-Face asked, walking up towards her before shoving the nuzzle up her chin.

"What you feel when you die," she answered back calmly, her voice riddled with her alluring British accent before moving away from him and bowing her head in respect. "Well, hello...I am Alias. I also have a part in this theatrical story, but mine is worth the Bat."

"And what makes yer think that?" The Penguin questioned her, a noticeable frown on his face, and Alias turned her head towards him. She didn't think he'd be so vertically challenged in person.

"There are some things you wouldn't understand, Cobblepot...I am the Meta Mercenary that had resided in Arkham but due to certain events, I came here. Scarecrow is aware of my reasons and I ask to be respectful of them―"

"I like you," a high-pitched voice cut her off, and the Meta glanced at the blonde with the two-tone attire and cocked a brow. "The way you carry yourself...I admire that in a lady."

"Why, thank you Quinn...but like everyone else in this room, I have a part to play. Oh, and Dent?" The half-scarred man snarled as he glanced in her direction, unexpecting a spin-kick to the face and let out a pained grunt as he was thrown off his feet. Alias slowly dropped her leg, fixed her hair and walked up to the fallen man. "Point a gun at me again, and you won't see tomorrow. Just because you hold status as a reckless thug, doesn't mean you test the life of someone trained to kill you." The Arkham Knight crossed his arms, that was an impressive kick. The Riddler suppressed a laugh of mockery as Harley shared a surprised pout, pressing her hands on the table to catch a glimpse of Dent recovering on the floor.

Dent brought a hand to his face and felt blood ooze out of his nose, his hasty breaths becoming louder as rage fuelled his next actions and words; he pulled himself off the floor and balled her silk cardigan in one shaking fist. "You fucking bitch―!"

"Go on," she grinned. "Flip your coin. Let's see who gets to kill who." A hand curled around Dent's wrist and Alias glared up at the Knight, the armoured man throwing off the hand that gripped her cardigan and she let out an exasperated sigh as she flattened out the new creases. "Now that I've got almost everyone's attention...it seems like Scarecrow has assigned for each of you to wreck an aspect of chaos to either plunge this city into havoc or distract Batman from Operation Saviour." She crossed her arms as she swayed to the end on the table, stopping beside the Knight. "Considering everything is going to plan, having someone like me will greatly boost morale amongst the militia. Everyone here has some sort of vendetta on the Bat, I have a target on him."

"Oh look," Nigma spoke up his time with his usually cheery voice. "Another walking disappointment. What would make us think you can kill the Bat?"

"Yeah!" Harley exclaimed. "You look too pretty to kill someone like Bats. You think you can take him?" Alias moved her weight to her other foot as she stared at the frames by the table, and casually flicked her hand in the air as if she was throwing something. And throw something she did indeed. Harley let out a squeal as a broadsword made out of violet ice was stabbed into the table, Nigma's brows raising in surprise as he witnessed her abilities.

"He thinks he's immortal. He forgets that underneath all that black, is a man dressed up as a bat. If I can kill you, I can kill him. It's simple, really. Besides I being paid. No money, no mark."

"Yer one scary woman, yer know that," Penguin mumbled, his mouth occupied by the half-burnt cigar and Alias smiled.

"Oh, I can assure you Cobblepot...this was nothing. If we're on the same page, then it's best we do everything to make Halloween come alive." She spun on her toes and began to walk to the doors she entered from and stopped just before she reached for the handle. "Oh, and Knight? I've been assigned to your unit. Crane's orders."

* * *

Alias walked through the streets of Miagami with Rex a mere couple of steps in front of her, already taken care of three targets in the space of 15 minutes. 5 minutes to hear them ramble on about a life the two didn't care about, have them try to defend themselves and miss the opportunity to say their last words. The last target found out about the assassinations and took cover in Black Canary Club, which wasn't very smart in Alias's opinion. But, no, she was astonished by Rex's skill as a trained fighter and as a Meta. It shocked her when he brought out some sort of energy sword that burned blue and sliced through matter at will; if she had to guess, the energy that emanates from it was capable of destroying the bonds between molecules. It shocked her when he moved through space and time. It shocked her even more when he pulled her through a wall, a solid surface, when she wasn't in cover. Even now, she still couldn't get over that last one. Phasing through a wall felt incredibly...dense. There wasn't another way to describe it. Just, dense.

Rex booted open the doors and had his sword by his side, cautiously stepping into the casino with the Meta Mercenary gazing up at the silver chandeliers. "Pretty," she lowly commented as she admired the interior design of the establishment, red carpets that stretched up the staircase, black-leather loveseats that were placed in the reception's perimeter and paintings that varied in canvas size. As they walked past the reception booth and up the stairs to the casino, Alias's senses heightened as she picked up more than one heat signature. She felt several, but one was different than the others and on the rooftop of the building. "Rex, wait."

Rex stopped and peered off his shoulder, her hand squeezing his bicep in reassurance before letting go, and watched as she moved in front of him. She examined the sea of casino slots, tables and bars and brought the hazy mist to her eyes. "Our target isn't alone. But neither are we. You deal with these guys. Any problems, we've got the gauntlets. I'll go deal with whoever's trying to take our target. Good luck." After exchanging pats on each other's back, she caught a glimpse of Rex pooling electricity into his hands just as she launched herself to the ceiling windows with a glacier, and used an arm to shield her face from the fragments. She landed softly yet the figure heard her and turned to examine her, and she widened her eyes as the mist faded. "The bird. I wondered why you were so calm."

He smirked and reached for his escrima sticks, "I would've noticed someone like you in a city like this."

"Well, I can't say the same for you." She shrugged lightly and put one foot back, Nightwing's eyes looking down to see what she was doing. "I already did." She fired into a sprint straight towards him and just as he prepared to block her, a leap in the air and a flipping axe-kick was enough for Nightwing to realise she wasn't a regular thug. He dodged by cover-rolling backwards and blocked two more strikes before deciding to grab her attacking arm. She hissed as the submission hold was tightened, her arm folded against an escrima stick and she had reduced to one knee. "Not too bad. I was sloppy, my mistake."

"Who the hell are you?" He asked her sternly, and she chuckled under her breath.

"Wouldn't you like to know."

"I kinda would."

"If you're going to interrogate me, could you move it along?"

Nightwing ignored her, "Who are you working for?"

"Not Dent, after he put a gun to my chin I don't think I'll work for him any time soon. Penguin sounds inviting, although having two British people together becomes less threatening. Nigma would probably annoy me with 'riddle me this' all the time. Now Crane…" she laughed. "Crane's the man these days. Then again, you get what you paid for." She left her afterimage as an ice sculpture and Nightwing was too slow to move his hands away, Alias a couple steps away from him and dusting her clothes off. "Nobody's ever got me in an lock like that."

"You're a Meta...should've known."

"Not really. Some Metas aren't obvious until you force them to be. But I don't use handicaps." She waved a hand and the ice around his limbs shattered on command, the vigilante regained his composure and twirled his escrima sticks. The sounds of gunfire and yelling brought her attention to the ceiling window and she crossed her arms. "Not sure what you'll accomplish, but I have a target. If you want to be able to walk away, I suggest you stand down."

"You're a suspect, so...yeah, I don't think I can do that." She shrugged as she flicked her wrists and ice gauntlets materialised gracefully, surrounded in silvery winds.

"Suit yourself. Violence is always my second option if flattery doesn't work."

"That was flattery? You gotta try better than that."

"I do, don't I? That's a shame, you didn't hear me. You should've just broken my arm." The mist appeared and she flash-stepped towards him, landing a left cross to the centre of his chest and lunging forward for another. He backflipped from the swing, threw a smoke pellet and used his grappling hook. Although the smoke didn't obscure her vision in the slightest she was oblivious to the whatever shot out at her but, when she felt it clamp onto her half-hoodie and yank her towards Nightwing, she figured out her situation. Just before she was knocked back by a clothesline, Alias met his outstretched arm instead and performed a one-arm shoulder throw. He grunted as his back smacked onto the floor but didn't stay too long as she punched down where his head was, but realised it was a setup for her aerial combo; just as he was getting up she stepped onto his knee and chest but the last hit was avoided by rolling out of the way.

They were at it for another minute, shots connecting and throws initiated, and the thoughts that were running through his mind was how; how was she matching him, how was she countering his moves? It was unbelievable that a Meta who manipulated ice could be so good at hand-to-hand combat, so there must've been something more about her that's he's slightly afraid to know.

Nightwing barred his teeth and managed to deflect her fourth strike and went to flip over her, but never thought her body would react faster than his. In his mid-flip she swivelled her body and punched his mid-section with enough force she created a shockwave, and he was thrown across the entire rooftop. She waited for him to stand and when she did she sighed as she sauntered towards him, slapping away his batarangs and flash-stepped behind him. She knew he wouldn't be fast enough for this as she knocked the back of his knee and forced him onto the floor, coiled an arm around his neck and the other manipulated his limb. "Wrist lock," she commented casually. "Highly effective as a pain compliance technique. Do you understand the situation you're in, right?"

Then she let out an exhausted exhale. "Wow. You should be really proud of yourself, nobody's ever worn me out before. An actual workout." She exhaled again and tightened the lock on his wrist, which made Nightwing flinch in response. "I could kill you, but you have a guardian angel. If it wasn't for him, I wouldn't have played with you."

"...him?" The vigilante grunted and Alias nodded in return.

"Him. Now I hear you're flexible...how flexible are you?" She slowly twisted the joint and felt his muscle clench against her but stopped just before she popped it out of place. Her gauntlet abruptly hummed and she released the hold on Nightwing to step away from him. "Rex ex machina," she shrugged as her ice weapons shattered by will. "You're just lucky that you're not my main priority. I know I'll be seeing you later."

"Who the...hell are you?"

"Why don't you ask Batman," her brow cocked as she jogged and leapt into the shattered glass ceiling, the gauntlet beeping faster this time. She reached down for the assault of an already-dead henchman, checked the mag and, as the mist was still up, looked around for Rex's heat signature. Upstairs, he was upstairs. Combing her hair back, she made her way to the first level and darted through the sea of tables and almost instantly ducked when a brute wielding a machine gun slammed into the large room she was in.

"He didn't work alone," someone spoke from behind the brute and in flooded several more henchmen, one with some sort of detection gear on his back. They were probably expecting Batman or the bird whose wrist she almost snapped. She smiled, that's a shame. She didn't have time to take them out silently one by one so moved swiftly among them until she was in a good position, and stood up from her cover.

It was quick, too quick. Before the brute could turn towards her she had frozen him entirely and gripped the rifle properly to waste four more henchmen. The other two began registering what was happening before their eyes and stayed together, covering each other's back and shouting warnings at one another. She found it cute that they could actually survive this and broke cover again, and in the sudden intensity of the moment one raised their iron sights and fired.

Alias smirked and vanished mid-step before him, and he felt the pressure of his ally on his back as he staggered forward; she had materialised in front of his comrade, used him as a step-up stool and flipped over the pair of them. Only right before she landed she pushed them back with her feet and seamlessly cover-rolled backwards to her feet, the pair of henchmen skewered by the ice sculpture she created, and she threw the gun she was wielding on the floor. "Never really liked using guns," she lowly spoke as she moved towards the back room, gesturing her hand so the sculpture collapsed. She fixed her clothes and booted the door open, her body moving on its own as she dived forward from multiple rounds and rebounded off the desk, grabbed the target's head and used her ongoing momentum to slam his face onto the floor.

"And that," she pointed down at him. "Was for not coming out and letting my comrade kill you. Unfortunately for you, I'll have to do it instead." In both hands shimmered an ice sword and she kicked him over so that he was now on his back and stabbed his palms in place. He let out a blood-curdling scream as red streamed out in pools but Alias didn't react, letting go of the hilts and rushed over to a barely conscious Rex who smiled weakly up at her.

"I don't see any marks," she said in a surprised tone, having brought the mist up to examine his body. She hummed in confusion when his hand cupped her face, and she held it without hesitation. "Don't worry, we'll get out of here." He shook his head and pointed behind her, and that was when she felt another heat signature emanating behind her. She stood up and spun on her heels, only to be bombarded with several psychic blasts that knocked her off-balance. Nothing but pain, nothing but white. "What the…"

" _I can already smell your fear, frozen maiden…"_ the voice called out to her and her eyes darted around the room. " _It's almost addicting. Tell me, Alias: what are you afraid of?"_ Mixed emotions that weren't her own flooded her body in violent waves and she stepped back, the reality before her melting away into nothingness to reveal a woman of her height standing metres before her. When she took a closer inspection, she realised it was her but something was wrong. Dark bruises decorated her ankles and wrists and cuts in the form of tally scores spanned her arms and legs. What was she looking at? A past she couldn't even remember? " _Oh, yourself. I never would've known. But then again, I'm not surprised. Go on, have a taste of your own demon._ "

The woman lifted her head and Alias gasped at the deep red stitches that kept her eyes shut. What the hell was she witnessing? Surely that didn't happen to her, surely...they didn't sew her eyes shut. That would be inhumane. The Meta was frozen in her place and reacted when her counterpart threw her hands out and icy winds slammed into her body, screaming in agony as it licked against her skin with the intensity of sub-zero temperature and that of the sun. It burned her skin, peeled the clothes off her body and burnt her hair to ash. The pain, the heat, the cold, it all felt so real. So real she thought she would be trapped in this oblivion forever.

Then something snapped. She briefly shut her eyes and found them, hiding in the depths of the dark behind her lids and didn't waste another moment as the side of her fist forcefully met his face. He gagged and she panted, the weight vanishing from her shoulders, with the blade she took from one of the henchmen stabbed through the bridge of his nose and into his skull.

"Another Meta? But how did I…" She widened her eyes. "It was you, wasn't it Rex?" He stumbled into her line of sight and tapped his nose as a gesture of secrecy, a tired grin on his face. The enemy Meta's nerves had moved his hand to the knife in his face and stepped back before striking the floor hard, their target now whimpering in fear and extreme pain.

"You're a psychic? No way. That's...that's so cool. Does anybody know?" Rex shook his head several times and she smiled at this response, for it to subtly drop as the man pinned to the floor begged and pleaded for his life to end. With a sigh, Alias snapped her palm and a knife completely silenced him; it had nipped at the linen of his crotch and it took the rest of his willpower not to move. "Shout at me again, and I swear the next one won't miss. As I was saying...so why not? Telepathy is an incredible power. Oh wait, that's why you don't want to tell anybody. Does Knight know?" He shook his head again. "Tell him later. But thank you for protecting my mind, not a big fan of mind-control."

 _I know._

She blinked. That was...that was her voice. That was said in her voice. But she didn't have the thought processes ready to say something like that. Her eyes peered at green orbs and he winked as he reached behind him, bringing out his energy sword.

 _I get to kill him. I wasn't aware that he would have a Meta as a last-resort bodyguard. I apologize for my sloppiness._

"It's okay, I'll give you this kill." She didn't turn when he brushed past her and instead flicked her hair back with both hands, nothing but crushed bones and more of the man's cried staining the air. That feeling again. That feeling of helplessness. It was festering. As much as she didn't want it to. She almost felt pity for herself.

Almost.


	6. Broken

**Quick AN: Watch out for Alias's backstory, it's interesting yet complicated so I want you guys to be prepared when it does get complicated.**

* * *

She hummed to herself as she clipped her bra in place, the wall mirror to her left giving her the dazzling view of the lace lingerie hugging her intimate skin, but even so she wouldn't mind leaving her room like this; the so-called surprise after her successful completion, which she was surprised of seeing so nicely wrapped on the bed. While the bra itself was simplistic, it was her tanga briefs that was hooked over her hip bone that made something that was a necessity to become something more. It would be one hell of a distraction and rouse up the infantry...but that would mean the Knight would get on her case, and seeing him kinda explode once was actually kinda scary.

But still, Alias posed in front of the mirror for a moment, her elbows up and her hands holding up her light pink, curly hair and a smile cracked her face. "Mm...I'll say. The black looks better after all."

"Miss Alias, er sir, ma'am," one of her henchmen awkwardly called her from outside her room and she chuckled calmly, sauntering to the door and didn't think once to cover herself up.

"I've told you already, call me Alias. I'm not someone that craves leadership...or a title."

"Y-yes...er...s-sorry, Alias...um..."

She leaned on the door, her hip popping to the left. "...is there something you wanted to tell me, Breaker?" Breaker found it incredibly hard to tear his eyes off her body, since her curves were blatantly on display for the world to see, if it wanted, but he was going to try and be respectful. Try. With a body like that, trying was all he could do.

"Um, Y-yes...yes there is. You've been, er, personally chosen to command the post on, uh, Miagani Island."

"Personally? By who?"

"Scarecrow...um...Alias."

"Scarecrow, huh? Weird. First he doesn't want to me command and now he does. Not that I don't mind, it's just I rather have the role of something faster...never mind, I'm rambling again. Thank you for the message, Breaker."

"Not a problem." With an endearing smile she closed the door and sighed, a temperature higher than her own sending a warm sensation through her body.

"You should know by now, you can't sneak up on me even if you tried, Knight."

 **"I wasn't trying to."** Came the modified, digital reply and Alias glanced off her shoulder with his livewire hue at the corner of her sights. She swayed towards the mirror again, admiring herself more carefully and watched the Knight turn around to glance at her reflection.

"I became commander of Miagani."

 **"So I've heard."**

"I didn't really want to be, but since Scarecrow's running this whole thing, I trust his decisions...almost."

 **"And what do you mean by that?"**

"Finding a weakness in everyone is what I've been trained to do...he's so curious about Batman but...I-I don't know. Something's off, just don't know what. He's being careful."

 **"Like you."**

"Me? Oh no, I just want to hit him at the right time. If you want me to strike, just say the word."

 **"No, we draw him out, we make sure there's no more shadows left for him to hide in―"**

"And now you're pissed." Alias turned around to face him, and began walking up towards him with a soft frown making her appear more appealing than before. "Under that cyber facade...you're hiding something."

The Arkham Knight stepped back once, crossing his arms. **"There are some things you wouldn't understand."**

"Maybe, but that doesn't mean I can't emphasise with you...if you won't kill me, I'm guessing your title is affiliated with Arkham Asylum...or maybe is something more compact, more restricting than the Asylum―" He gripped her shoulders and pushed her back, unintentionally seating her onto her bed.

 **"We're not gonna discuss this again."**

"But I'm not like those other guys who are wasting time distracting a man that surrounds himself in his own fears. We're on the same page, you just have to find it."

 **"I want you training the rookies downstairs in 10. We can't waste time."** Just as the Knight was about to leave, Alias caught his arm and he stopped.

"Knight, I'm here for you."

 **"And you're wasting time."**

She narrowed her eyes as she stared deeper into his mask, her violet eyes lighting up. "It is the Asylum, isn't it? What happened to you?"

 **"I said―!"**

"You keep dodging my statements...it has to be―?!" Alias let out a sound of alarm as the Knight let his explosive rage move his body, pinning her onto the bed with his hands tight around her wrists and his mask so close to her face it was starting to feel intimidating. No, it was intimidating.

 **"And what would you know about the Asylum, huh? Do you even know the half of what I went through in there?! Do you?! No, you don't. Because you had the freedom to do whatever you wanted to, while I was trapped in that fucking place against my own goddamn will for over a year! Over a year with that...crazy bastard! So tell me, how can you emphasise with me, huh? How can you even begin to imagine the hell I went through?"**

Alias held her breath, the hate, anguish and pain in his demonic voice causing every frozen nerve in her body to tremble in fear, her eyes wanting to water but it took almost her will to stop herself from crying. Gradually, she closed her eyes and breathed out, what was supposed to be calming instead came out shaky and shallow, and the Knight kept still, waiting for an answer.

"That's where you're wrong," she muttered, shaking her head back and forth several times but she felt her temples become moist; she was crying... And she didn't even notice. "Because I've already been to hell and nothing can compare to what happened to me. I...I was normal. I had a life, I was a person capable of doing whatever she wanted to do...but I was at the right place at the wrong time..."

 **"Wait, wait, what are you―"**

"They caught me, beat me up, put me on a table and stabbed needles into my skin...sucked out my blood and filled it with something else, it made me docile and made my heart colder. I...I was pregnant, Knight. They didn't just take my freedom...they took the only light that would've made me the happiest person in the world. They made me watch them kill every person I lived for and cared about...and every time, they'd chip away at my sanity until I stopped screaming, I stopped forming useless sentences. Then they tried to make me forget my past, erase it and...and fill it with soundless, tasteless essences. They..." Alias bit her lip as she felt her throat tighten and burn against that heavy marble in her throat, but the Arkham Knight didn't let go or move away. He wanted to hear it, her pain and anguish. He wanted to understand. Realise he wasn't the only one broken.

"They made me...like this, a merciless killer afraid of nothing..." Her voice reduced to desperate whispers by now, her own pain and silent anger writhing through every word she spoke of. But when she found herself, the strength in her voice returned. "But herself...so you're not the only one Batman left behind..." Her strained words pulled his hands away from her wrists and he straightened up, the British woman covering her wet face with her arm while her other reached up for pillow and hugged it tight against her chest.

 **"A-Alias...I never―"**

"Just leave me alone! Okay? Just...just, go...Knight...please..."

 **"Alias―"**

"We both have a job to do, don't we? I'll be down here in 5, just...let me be alone for a bit..." He wasn't the only one, he always wondered if she had something to hide behind her level-headed yet flirty demeanour and alluring voice. She may not have been broken by that green-haired bastard but she went through the same events as him; they didn't just strain her mentally and physically but biologically too, and now her blood ran colder than death itself. Alias had told him she can't remember her name, and maybe what happened to her was a result of her reported amnesia...and the result of her miscarriage.

The Knight walked with near-soundless steps to her door and when he reached down to open it, he glimpsed off his shoulder and sighed.

 **"I'm sorry."**

Alias moved her face out of the pillow just as the door closed, the fabric stained with her tears and she barred her teeth in anguished nostalgia as her mind kept replaying those memories. But then she sat up and combed her hand through her hair, her new role as commander popping into her head again.

As she got up and caught sight of herself in the mirror, she realised, even in the body of the 25-year-old, the well-maintained body capable of freezing whatever it wanted, she was still the drained, numb, broken girl on the inside.

Just had her gathered pieces frozen together.


	7. Combat

Alias exited her room with a grey knitted bodysuit and specialised thigh-high boots; upon leaving, her two favoured guards and a rookie followed her shortly behind, assaults in hand and ready to issue support when their leader needed it. But one overheard the conversation she had with the Arkham Knight, which meant he also heard her cry, and was aching to ask her a comforting question.

"A-Alias...?"

She tilted her head towards the speaker, "Yes, Axel?"

"Are...are you okay?"

"Idiot! I told you not to say anything! Do you not understand; it's none of your business."

"No, it's okay...I'm fine. I appreciate your concern. And Breaker, I keep telling you. I'm not like everyone else...I'm not just your leader, I'm your friend. I hope that's okay with you, Rex and Breaker, since you two never gave up on me. Sorry, Axel."

"Sure it's fine with us," Breaker replied. "Anything to make you happy, Alias." The Meta smiled softly as they walked into the awaiting elevator in silence, with Rex pressing the corresponding button for the basement, and didn't utter a word on the way down. It was when the doors opened again to reveal a massive room with rookies clumped in groups did Alias usher the rookie that escorted her away and stepped to Rex's side.

"You know what to do. I'm counting on you, Rex."

Rex nodded once and left her side, and the Meta flicked her hair back before walking to the front of the room. She waited for them to acknowledge her presence but they simply ignored her, laughing, talking, sparring. Alias made a surprised face before signalling to Breaker; he pointed his firearm at the ceiling and fired a couple times. Just like that, the laughing, the talking, the sparring stopped. Breaker gestured and Alias stepped in the middle of the crowd, her arms crossed and hip cocked to the side.

"I won't bore you men of my graceful introduction, as you will all learn who I am from today onwards. I won't say my name unless you ask, and I won't stop until I know you can't tell me to. Is that clear enough for you?" As she had run into her last sentence, the small friendship group in front of her began smiling at each other and kept nudging the one with the bleached blonde hair. She grinned, "You. You want to fight me?"

"I don't know er...you sure you won't chip a nail, sweetheart?" The bleached blonde mocked her, with the rest of his group instigating the situation by rousing up excitement and anticipation. Alias tilted her head briefly before walking towards the centre of the circle and placed both hands on her hips.

"Are you sure you want missing teeth, rookie?"

"Oh...so you do want me to beat you to a bloody pulp?"

"If you can. I won't stop you." The man wiped his face with a hand before swaggering to the centre, everyone else in the massive room clapping and cheering for him once he was at least a metre away from the Meta. "Okay, rules are simple. I'll give you 3 attempts to floor me before I can react."

"You're making this too damn easy, beautiful."

Her brow cocked. "You'll be surprised."

"Oh, I sure would." The bleached blonde brought his fists up and bounced from one foot to the other, trying to confuse her judgement and find an opportunity. There. He went for a right cross, but she dodged by leaning to the left. His eyes widened, relaxed just as fast, and he tried again. Only this time it was a kick. It wasn't sloppy, in fact it was a well-performed back kick that had barely skimmed past her freckled cheek. Then he acted on first thought and went for a lower kick, but suddenly regretted it when she caught his foot in her hand.

It happened way too fast, and he found himself on the floor clutching his torso as the wind was knocked out of his lungs. That was when there was no smirk on the rookies' faces, the look of total shock and horror from the man's group of friends; there was no signal for a chuckle. They had witnessed a woman of question floor a man without difficulty, without a moment wasted. Pure instinct.

"See that?" She pointed at him struggling to push himself of the padded ground. "Gloating is one reason why this man is on the floor. Another reason, he hasn't been informed of my fighting background, nor has everyone else in this room. Apart from my men, each one of you has failed." Then she turned to the man, who was now on all fours gasping lungfuls of air. "Also, you lack a base. Without a base, anybody can knock you over. I see you have some skill in taekwondo, but you just fought a mercenary adept in more than one fighting style."

"Who the...hell are you…?"

"Glad you actually asked without reducing to begging." Her eyes fell upon the group of men that surrounded the twosome in the middle. "I am Alias, a Meta Mercenary and your potential commander if you pass...oh, I have such bad manners, I'm sorry. Would anybody else want to try me?" She gazed around for a hand, but they kept to themselves, avoiding eye contact or giving her too much eye contact to not be picked.

A gloved hand shot out from the sea of rookies and her eyes side-glanced at them. " **I volunteer."** The sea parted and her expression dropped faintly when the Arkham Knight walked out into the centre, the intensity thickening with every breath as the rookies realised two superior figures were about to spar. Considering how skilled they both were, they wouldn't be surprised if there was a draw. " **Hope you don't mind."**

"I'll let you take your pick. Bladed or projectile?"

"Wait, what, you guys are gonna kill each other?!" A voice hollered somewhere behind the Knight and Alias stifled a laugh.

"As militia, you must be ready for changing conditions. But as combat specialists, you must be able to calculate your moves and your opponent's before you encounter them. Your opponent could have a blade." She made a fist with one hand and brought her other palm to it and, as if she was drawing out her blade from a sheathe, the icy cutting edge glistened into view. "Or they could have a gun." The blade rested by her side as the Knight rolled back his shoulders but before they even took a step forward the Meta went down on one knee and flattened her palm on the ground. Ice moved as a dusty shockwave slid across the ground and rose as glass once it reached the rookies. It scaled at least 10 feet and doubled back down as a secondary reinforcement before she straightened up. "Either way, you can either die or live. The decision is your attitude towards the encounters. But enough talk, you boys are here for a fight...right?"

And just like that the room came to life with whistles, chanting and clapping as the Knight and Alias kept their distance circling the space they were in, then she moved. She was quick, her blade singing ferociously as she swung for him and his gauntlets blocked her swings but realised his mistake when he went to grab for her. He grunted in surprise, his reaching arm stuck in her afterimage and he glanced to his left to get himself trapped in a 4-kick combo and Alias rolled backwards onto her feet whilst he was quickly recovering; ice had decorated the padded floor in violet confetti. Then he saw it, her eyes. They were filled with anger. The face underneath grinned; so she was still mad at him. No wonder he felt those hits.

He rolled his shoulders as they circled once again, Alias twisting her wielding wrist in an attempt to trick his judgement, and she found herself cutting bullets out of the air. On the last round she threw her sword at the Knight, who simply leaned out of the way, and managed to slap away her punches before reversing her roundhouse; he flicked her leg up and she ended up landing on her stomach, the wind being knocked out of her. Half of the rookies reacted to her impacting the padding while the rest cheered on the Arkham Knight's regained upper ground. Alias pressed her body off the floor but the Knight kicked her onto her back, his hand reaching for her throat like last time. But she wasn't under the effects of the fear toxin, and she had several moves she could pull off in her position. A shame he let his guard down.

At once, she pulled her lower body off the floor, curled her legs around his bicep and, with the strength he thought she didn't have, flipped him and sent him sprawling to the other side of their restricted sparring mat. The rookies cheered for Alias this time as she steadily got up from one knee and dusted herself off, the Knight recovering just in time to let out a chuckle in his seated position. " **You're not really giving me a chance, are ya?"** he tilted his head and reached behind him for his firearm.

"I mean I could, but you wouldn't take me seriously." She gestured at his pistol, "Rubber bullets? Don't want to waste your ammunition."

" **Maybe."** He pointed it at her and fired, the round encased in ice and rebounding off her shoulder. " **But you wouldn't take me seriously."** The Meta brought the hazy mist to her eyes and smirked as she opened her palms, complete replicas of his modified weapons dusting into view, and cocked them quickly.

"Unlike you, I don't have to reload. Perks of the job, I guess." By now the entire room was betting who was gonna win the firearm-martial arts battle with some guessing the finishing move from both parties. Breaker, who was on a platform and able to see the spar amongst the sea of people, smiled at the spectacle. He could tell that Alias was venting her anger through this combat exercise, still upset at the Knight's ordeal, and had this weird feeling that she was gonna do something crazy. Knight specialised in many fighting styles and knew how to juggle them, but so was his leader, and they're both proficient at using weapons too. It was a pretty close prediction, but Alias seemed in the right mindset.

After shooting bullets out of the air, countering each other's moves and reversing throws the Meta found herself in a tight sleeper hold and barred her teeth as he forced her on her tip-toes. Some of the rookies applauded his nearing victory whilst others encouraged Alias to fight through it, and the Knight brought his visor close to her ear. " **You don't have to do this,"** he whispered. " **Just...tap out."**

"We both know, that I won't do that," she wheezed and quickly juggled her options. He already knew her wall takedown and pulled her to the centre of the mat, and kept his base low in case she tried her ice wall maneuver again like last time. There was one thing she could try and do and she took one last breath before moving. Kicking both legs up she used his low base to her advantage and swung upwards for a moment, before coming back down and regaining her footing on the mat. But with her momentum still going she elbowed his gut and made him loosen the hold on her, and kept ahold of one of his arms. Just like she remembered her judo training, Alias brought him over her shoulder using her hip and the Knight slammed back-first onto the mat. Just like that.

The room fell silent. A sword was pressed against his throat before the ambiguous man could even try to get up and Alias's supporters roared in triumph, both figures lightly panting as she finally reached down to help him off the floor and the barrier that divided the mercenaries from the rookies collapsed into cold, violet dust. "Not bad," he told her, humour in his demonic tone, and she turned her head in annoyance as the hazy mist faded.

"You just let your guard down because you knew my emotional state. I feed off my anger."

"A bit melodramatic."

"You were taught to suppress your emotions, I was trained to use it. I guess we really are different after all." She moved away from the Knight and began calling out instructions the rookies followed instantly while Breaker cleared away the empty shekels off the floor; after witnessing her floor someone who was heavier and possibly stronger than her, they knew that she wasn't to be tested. Rex materialised mid-step and nodded his head in respect as he past his leader and he watched as Alias's face lit up.

The face underneath frowned softly; the only person who...no. He swore at himself before striding out of the training hall, viciously tapping the button to call the elevator. It wasn't the time nor place. But he couldn't help but wonder.

What would a woman like her be doing in a place like this?


	8. Sinner

**Oh look, a filler chapter.**

* * *

She had finished assigning the rookies with tasks to aid Operation: Saviour when she noticed the Knight wasn't in the vicinity, and was strolling towards the elevator when Breaker provided information on his whereabouts. "He was called by Scarecrow to Stagg's airships, Alias," he said as she looked off her shoulder. "Something about a Cloudburst...maybe that has something to do with the fear toxin."

"Simon Stagg, huh? A partnership gone south, that what it sounds like. Thank you for the update, Breaker, and please make sure that the rookies don't mess up. I got enough on my mind as it is."

"I'll do my best."

"That's all I ask." Breaker parted from Alias's side to attend to his task when Rex forwarded her, a nod starting their side campaign. He offered his hand and she took it without hesitation and, before the elevator doors could open, he moved the two of them through reality fast enough that they let out a static shockwave when they appeared. They were back at the warehouse where the Knight and herself ran into Syndicate goons but by the pressure surrounding her hand, Alias knew the air didn't feel right.

You'd expect the carpet to be how it was, with glass and your ice still here, but someone was here.

"You're not wrong, their heat signature still lingers. But it's more than one person. Five at most. Three stands out more for some reason." The mist rose against her face and she examined the smeared colours within the room as she moved, identifying temperatures that were the same yet completely different. It danced mostly around the centre of the room, but some strayed up towards the ceiling and others against the wall. That was when she noticed the glass ceiling was intact. Strange. "Metas?"

Yeah. In fact, I think I can display what they did in here.

She blinked hard. "You can do that?"

I may not be the strongest telepath, but Scarecrow did tell me to rig the place with psychic links after the incident. May I? She let the mist fade from her face and reluctantly forwarded Rex again, a soft smile on his face. He could feel the worry just by the look in her eyes but her brainwaves indicated something nestled deep within her mind that she didn't want to recall, and he held her shoulders. I realised what you meant when you mentioned your abhorrence towards mind-control…

Alias made an uneasy expression, "Sometimes I can't even trust my own mind. But I trust yours...show me." He spun her around so that she was facing the centre and moved his hand towards her temple, before tapping it. Like a bubble of obscurity had suddenly been popped, Alias could feel his power running through her body and rushing along her skin. It was light yet violent, sounds and smells that she didn't experience rushing to her senses. She stepped back, overwhelmed by what was happening and felt Rex's hands still on her shoulders.

Click.

Her head snapped to the door, a group of armed people dressed in padded black walking in with a woman in front. Alias watched as the woman walked up towards her before stopping short and crouching down to pick up a small cluster of violet ice off the carpet. This was what Rex meant when he rigged the warehouse; she was, essentially, living his memory. The woman examined it carefully before gripping it in her fist and standing, facing her bodyguards. "Get him in here," she informed one of them and they rushed to fulfill her order, her New Zealander accent sharp enough to cut her words. "The reports were right, she is alive."

Alias furrowed her brows as the woman swore to herself, combing back her tousled blonde hair in annoyance, and attempted to understand who 'she' was. She was about to ask Rex what the hell she was seeing when she moved to get a better view but a shiver that melted down her nape stopped her. The man that was called into the room arrived with his dress shoes clicking with every step he made. He appeared different from the rest of them, dressed in a dark navy suit and slicked blonde hair the same shade as the woman's. Rex glanced at Alias, who was frozen on the spot, and paused his memory. She may have gaps in her memory about her past, but she could never forget the man who snapped it.

Alias…

"I know exactly who he is," she muttered. "He's Taeyeon Sinclair."

Taeyeon? So he's Korean.

"He's also the founder of Syndicate, and the reason why I'm here. I swear, this guy makes me sick. He's a fluid Meta, a Meta with several abilities. A sadist at best..." She held her arms tight around her chest and Rex hesitated to continue the memory, Sinclair confronting the woman with a handsome smile.

"What's wrong, my dear Rhys? You're looking quite sour today."

She showed him the cluster in her possession, "You care to explain this Tae, hm? Because it seems to me that your favourite mercenary is back on grid miles away from her last known location."

"What, what are you talking about?"

"Whose ice could this be? There's only one Meta who had purple ice―"

"Alias is here?" Sinclair chuckled in happiness, "My gorgeous, pink Alias is really here? But, how?"

"That's something I'd kill to know. Care to explain?"

"You think I brought her here? Why would I do that if she was recorded to be out of commission years ago? Rhys, you have to stop doubting me sometimes. You really put me on edge, especially when you make that cute face."

"Are you honestly not getting how serious this is? A mercenary has not only escaped Syndicate, but has also managed to reanimate herself. Is this not processing in that silly mind of yours?"

The suited man chuckled again, "You're so serious it's almost adorable. Of course I acknowledge the situation. I'm just not worried is all. Right now, she's with the Arkham Knight. The men on the ground are saying that she's actually stronger than before. Now she has this weird mist thing that amplifies her condition."

"Mist? You mean she has access to Arcadia now?"

"She might not even know who that is. A shame, actually. It's saved her life many times before, maybe it's inhabiting her body now and the Alias we know doesn't exist anymore."

Rex shut down the memory right before Alias could tell him, a distraught look on her freckled face as she attempted to fathom what she just saw. Question upon question surged in her mind, adding to her already dark and scarred past. Why was Sinclair here? Who's...what is Arcadia? Were they being metaphorical about her 'reanimation', or literal? Alias brought the mist up once more to feel for a change in her abilities, but looked at Rex and realised where she was. She suppressed all doubts and allegations with a sigh, the mist fading in unison, and instead made a face of curiosity. Of course she could never hide her true feelings from a telepath, a psychic, but he knew he won't question her about what she just witnessed.

"Was there more that happened here? I know that Sinclair repaired the glass ceiling, but someone else came in here."

Yes. A man in blue and black ambushed Syndicate. Not a combat Meta but his skills were flawless, disciplined. Claiming to know you. He hid his face well, as well as mask his voice, so tracking him down would prove difficult, even for a telepath like me.

Alias shook her head, "There's no need. He's not the priority...Sinclair is, as much as the masked man does intrigue me. Is it possible to set a relay here?"

What...oh. A telepathic relay? Yes, I think I can manage that. It might put a toll on my mind and body, but if it's to protect you...anything. Alias peered at Rex softly as she wondered how she managed to find a guy willing enough to become her living shield and her sharpened blade. Even for a mute, Rex does talk a lot. She chuckled and walked over towards the blonde man, wrapping her arm around his bicep and hugging it momentarily.

"You really are something, Rex."

"I am." She jumped but it was too late, Rex's hands wrapped tight around her throat and, with the strength he possessed, swept her completely off her feet. Alias wheezed against the pressure around her neck and fought against it, desperately clawing at his hand. Rex made a pleased expression and chuckled lightly, "Hello, darling," he spoke, his voice much more smoother than she thought and projected via telepathy; he did move his mouth for decoration. "I see you've grown well. Very well..." She was unable to speak, his thumbs dug into her larynx with a strain that hurt like hell, and involuntary tears stung her eyes. "Oh? Crying for me? I thought I'd never see the day. It's a shame your friend here is also naive with his ability, always leaving traces behind. I'm not just your nightmare, my Alias, I'm also your reality." He finally let go when Alias threw him against the wall with a shot of ice, restraining his limbs and neck, although very uneasy and catching her breath in greedy gasps. The man did not react accordingly but instead marvelled at her quick thinking.

"Sinclair, get out of his body. Now. Or, I swear―"

"Swear what? That you'll kill me? You've tried that already, don't you have something new?"

"Okay," she pulled herself off the floor and let the haze reach her face, Sinclair's once confident expression fading gradually. "I'll let Arcadia kill you. Or is this what you call the mist? Honestly, it's the reason why I constantly sense heat signatures whether I have it up or not. I know you're not here, and I wished you were, but you rigged the place with your own psychic sigils didn't you? That's the only way you'd know I'd be back in here."

"Smart girl. You were always my favourite."

"Why are you here?"

"That's my line."

"Care to explain how you managed to find me?"

He gestured his head to the glass ceiling, "Your Arkham Knight in the sky. You were cloaked in darkness, until you became allies with the modern, slightly volatile man. And what a match you two are. Both broken at young ages and reborn into gods." Alias looked away, all this poetry bullshit Sinclair spoke in really did piss her off but, as much as she wanted to kill him, killing Rex to do that was a very, very VERY bad idea. "Oh," he broke Alias's concentration. "Rhys is calling me again. That woman really does not like me, but I love her ruthlessness as much as I love your pink hair. Eventually, you will see me again and you will have to face me whether you like it or not." The ice suddenly shattered and Alias unconsciously took a step back, fear rather than defense moving her limbs as the man who broke her mind inhabited the body who wanted to protect it, but she barred her teeth. Regardless of who it was, she had no other choice. "Starting now."

An ice katana materialised in both hands and the mist dispersed in unison, Sinclair letting out a sound of cool surprise at her change in heart and brought out Rex's energy sword. "Last chance."

"Threatening me, are you? You do realise I'm in the body of a telepath. Should I demonstrate our times together again? All the pain you felt...it was always so nice to see you suffer. Your pretty face writhed in agony, your muscles convulsing at once, even the drool that you couldn't stop falling past your rosy lips...haa. I wouldn't mind another session...would you?" She shuddered. It wasn't always people who could tear her walls like this can scare her, but even just the thought broke her down. But she stood tall, unfazed by his insults. "Not even an inch? Wow, Alias...you really have grown up. Unfortunately, I always save the best things for last. Until we meet again, my rose." And just like that Rex's body sank under Taeyeon's psychic weight and Alias had to think fast to catch him and not stab him at the same time: the swords had just about dissipated as she stretched her arms out. With the unexpected weight she wheezed and collapsed onto one knee, whispering worry and anxiety at a lifeless Rex. She cupped his face, his heat signature barely hanging onto the silver of life in his body. He was there. Just about.

"Damn…I'm so sorry, Rex...I never meant to drag you into my past...I'm sorry…"

Alias pressed her forehead against Rex. She swore, she swore on her life that Sinclair wasn't going to get away with this.


	9. Knight

**Just a couple edits, don't worry.**

* * *

Rex held out his hand for his frozen maiden as they walked behind the Arkham Knight, who was thoroughly pissed with Batman effortlessly breaking through his security protocols. First it's the radars, and somehow getting past the sentry guns, and now it was the missile launcher. The Knight wanted to confront Batman personally once again to add to his psychological bombardment, and Alias wanted a front row seat of what the caped crusader was really capable of. She had on a different silk cardigan, tight sleeves and the train that swayed behind her created by her delicate ice capabilities, and a sleeveless dress that complimented the Arkham Knight's colour palette with a slit that started from her right hip. Alias had a thing for wearing the same outfit all the time, so she wanted to spice things up. As long as she could fight in it, she wouldn't mind being naked.

"Rooftop's clear," the militia lieutenant told them from the top of the stairs. "Target is in the control room. Moving in to secure."

"Hold off, lieutenant," the Arkham Knight ordered as he climbed up the stairs to the control room, the pool of armed men and medics parting for him. "He's mine." When he reached the set of double doors he booted them open, not even vaguely surprised to find Batman not there. Alias hummed and walked ahead of the Knight, the misty blue haze cracking her face again as she felt the presence of him above her. Batman was silent, like a shadow, which made her even more excited.

"Where'd he go?" One of the militia supporting the power couple questioned out of reflex.

The Knight pointed to the computer, "Raise the defence shields. Keep all access points covered." Alias glanced out the window before her eyes watched a guy in red jog to the computer to fulfil his order, and sighed as she swayed next to him before pivoting on her heels and walking back again. Leaving the ambiguous man to relay information back to Scarecrow, she let her eyes roll up to the grates on the ceiling and raised a brow. She knew he was surprised with how she managed to find him, as almost everyone he's encountered barely looked up, and she flashed Batman a cute little wink before diverting her attention somewhere else. Nothing like besting your enemy with a wink.

And watching your enemy instantly down one of your allies from above and take down three more in quick succession. She grinned even more; that suit of his made him faster, lighter, quieter. But not colder, she could still detect his heat signature even under all that armour and black. The Arkham Knight waited patiently for Batman to finish and went for a punch that was deflected by a curl of the wrist, but also deflected a punch of his own and locked Batman's arm over his striking arm. Once the two had managed to pull off the exact same moves, and put each other in the same throat hold, Alias signalled Rex to start the car and flicked her curly hair back.

"Who...are you?" Batman groaned under the vice-like grip, feeling for the Arkham Knight's strength and applying a bit more pressure, the cloudy HUD to his visor becoming distorted.

But he simply chuckled and answered, "Not yet, Dark Knight." Pushing him back, he reached for his utility belt and brought out a gadget, pressing the button before a crimson, electric cloud was dispersed around him; Alias stayed behind with the rest of the militia, while Rex occupied the Knight back to his hideout. She abandoned the misty haze from her eyes and hummed again, bringing a hand by her face as a preparatory stance with the militia brute behind her adding to her carefree intimidation. If Batman can be intimidated, anyway.

"You think I'm scared of you, Batman?" Alias casually questioned the man in black. "No, I'm not. Because there are some fears that become something more...something cruel. Like you. A man clouded by his fears for so long that he becomes his fear. It's funny really. I'm just surprised you haven't tried to find me yet."

"And who are you?"

"I'm the same sensation you feel when your heart stops beating, your lungs stop taking in air, your brain activity slows down." She stretched on her tiptoes and yawned, fluffing back her voluminous hair. "But as fascinating as you are, I only wanted to observe you. I'll fight if I have to...but right now, there's enough bones crushed and skulls cracked for me to add to the count. Don't worry, I'll thank you later." Blowing him a timid kiss, she turned on her heels and couldn't even make a step towards the door without having to dodge to the left and snatch the Batclaw midair. Some of the militia let out surprised sounds, obviously new to Alias's capabilities, and she looked over her shoulder with an irritated look.

"You're not going anywhere."

"I'm guessing you really don't know who I am. So let me kindly clarify." The Meta let go of the Batclaw and a dangerous blizzard danced around her from her glassy heels as she turned again to face Batman, her eyes burning violets against the misty haze. "I am Alias, the Meta Mercenary you couldn't even find back in Arkham City. I'm more, yet less human than every single individual in this room...I could freeze your heart without even trying. You want to know what death feel like?" Alias stopped in front of the masked man, having to look up in his eyes due to his incredible height, and tilted her head and let her fingers dance up his plated chest. "An empty vessel, void of life, of living. But, I promised something...whether you like it or not, Batman, your end is inevitable. I won't lay down the last strike, that you can guarantee, but I'll be there when your legend burns into insignificant ashes."

Batman suddenly grabbed her wrist, throwing it away from him just as the blizzard disappeared. "Play nice."

"I see you have a charming sense of humour...surprising." Alias sighed as she swayed to the double doors, with one of the militia opening the door before her and she stopped for a moment, glancing off her shoulder to admire him once more. "I'll wonder how long you'll keep laughing, Dark Knight." Letting her eyes and the misty haze calm down, she walked down the stairs by the control room and, within seconds, heard the sound of flesh being struck and bones being cracked. She let out a disappointed sound; that was what she meant. Ten seconds, and there's already someone with a concussion or a broken wrist.

"Alias. Alias, do you copy?" The Meta blinked before bringing a hand to the earpiece, smiling at Rex who waited for her at the bottom of the stairs. I guess having a hidden Meta on your side was better than she thought. But she could see it in his expression, he was still shaken from what happened a mere 45 minutes ago. She wasn't gonna let Sinclair try and destroy her friends. Friends…

"I copy, Breaker. What's wrong?"

"The Arkham Knight has...well, he's..."

"What? Did something happen to him? What's the matter?"

"He's...he's in your room, at the hotel. He wants you here, like, now."

"Now, now?"

"Yes, Alias...now, now."

"Is there something wrong?"

"He won't say anything...but I think he's mad."

"And how do you know that? He doesn't have a face."

"He's...actually holding me at gunpoint, Alias. A-and I think I just pissed myself." Alias's face was a blend of confusion and shock, an expression Rex found strangely entertaining, and felt her hand tighten around his bicep.

"My room, Rex. The hotel." With a sharp nod, and a speedy manipulation of space and time, the couple found themselves in front of the door to Alias's room with the owner of said room bursting in first, an unimpressed frown cracking her features. "Seriously?"


	10. Breathe

"Seriously?" Was the only question that came to Alias's mind when she burst into her room. She didn't want to believe Breaker, but this made her reluctant about him telling the truth or not. But no, Breaker wasn't joking; he was sitting there in the most docile manner possible in the centre of her room, although the sheet of sweat on his forehead perceived otherwise, with the Arkham Knight aiming a pistol at his temple. "Knight, put the gun down."

 **"Not until you tell me the truth."**

"What...what are you talking about? I have nothing to hide."

 **"You're not breathing."** Alias froze, looking down at her chest and was surprised herself that her lungs didn't inflate and deflate like everyone else's in the room. She never really noticed that, since she could still breathe and having to remind the brain that the cells needed oxygen was a reflexive order. **"I've been watching you closely, Alias, and you're not breathing. In fact, you should be dead."**

"I-I don't understand..."

 **"I've got guys finding out who you are, everything about you...you really don't know who you are, do you?"**

"What are you―" Alias's sentence was cut short as a cold spray of water flew at her from behind, drenching her hair and back, and the Knight raised his head as she clambered onto the floor and struggled to breathe and her hair begun to kink up and curl in response to her absence of oxygen. She rolled onto her back as her face twisted and warped, her lips flushing a dark blue as her body begged for air.

 **"You breathe through your hair, which is why you never let anyone touch it. It's an unconscious reflex that you never realised."** The Knight moved away from Breaker, who let out a quiet, shaky exhale of relief, to squat in front of Alias and see her hair be deprived of air, slowly dying light blue from the ends as if the locks were essentially becoming pale. **"You didn't know that, huh, did you?"**

"...S-sir," Breaker cut in, although he felt his opinion was going to get him killed but realised Rex wanted to step in. "You're gonna kill her." pneumonia

Alias reached for the Knight with wide eyes, her fingers curling around his calf as strength was drained out of her, her hair clinging to the salt that was present in the water. **"You're right."** The Knight clicked his fingers and the same militia that threw saltwater on her handed him a bottle of fresh water, the Meta gritting her teeth at the burning sensation as it was poured on her. She rolled again, onto her chest, shuddering as the kink to hair relaxed and was restored to its original colour.

"I...never knew...I was dead," she finally answered him, her voice as strained as her attempt to push herself off the floor and held up a weak hand in rejection when Rex wanted to help her up. "In fact...I only know...what they wanted me to know..."

 **"You had severe pneumonia when Syndicate found you, which is why they altered your respiratory system."**

Alias had gotten off the floor and straightened up, losing her balance just when she found it and fell into a pair of muscular arms. Using them as support she steadied herself, her legs still shaking under her weight. "You say it...as if I wanted this to happen..."

He packed away his firearm, **"I never said you did."**

"But, just now...you lost your faith in me. You thought I...surrounded myself in lies...to hide myself away. So tell me..." She pushed herself off the blonde man and staggered towards the Arkham Knight, falling against his chest as her knees bucked under her. "Are you...just as broken as me?" The Knight only looked at her, unable to fathom a suitable reply as she collapsed onto him, the lack of oxygen her body was forced to endure causing her to black out. He didn't mean to put her through that, he wanted to prove something; before he let her fall he swept her off her feet seamlessly, putting her in the bridal carry with her head resting on his shoulder.

"Sir..."

Any excuse will do. **"...Breaker, I need you and Rex at HQ in 20. Start going through combat exercises with Charlie team until you know it yesterday."**

"But what about Alias? Is she gonna be okay?" He let his digital gaze rest on her face, so calm and content in contrast to the wet hair and clothes that stuck to her skin. And the face that was hidden underneath furrowed its brows. He didn't realise how different she was until now. Even when he made her go through all of that, he was expecting a punch or two or possibly even a bullet somewhere fleshy. But she didn't get mad, not even slightly upset. So why? Why didn't she scream out, try and rip out his throat? Why didn't she disarm him and just shoot his visor? Why didn't she, simply, kick his ass?

Because Alias was different.

 **"She'll be fine. Just get to HQ stat."** Breaker, who was still shook about being held hostage against his own will by his superior ally, found it challenging to get up from his chair but with the help of Rex they blinked out of sight, and the lone henchmen in red and grey briefly nodded before leaving Alias's room.

For someone he intentionally wanted to put in her place, his mind was confused at the mixed emotions that sparked every nerve in his body, and it annoyed him; like he was being complimented and insulted at the same time. Before, when he would even be in the same room as Alias, all he wanted to do was floor her after she beat him in hand-to-hand combat in front of the Alpha team. Now, however, after spilling every feeling she knew to him, he saw a woman lost between revenge and solitude, lost in the wind and following its direction. A woman who didn't know the difference between living and living in death.

Alias was just as ambiguous as himself, which was why...which was why he didn't want to leave her. Wait. Wait, wait. Did he...did his mind just do that? The thing? The thing where, even though he hated her with a burning passion, he loved her just the same? Loved her? He...he loved her. He'd fight himself not to admit that but here he was, looking after her when he was the one who pushed her. Damn, she wasn't persistent or desperate for love, she was searching for it somewhere inside the shell of a broken man. She's somehow found it in him, and had greedy intentions to steal it off her so he could understand what it felt like, what it felt like to love.

He sighed, side-glanced at her king-size bed and sauntered over to it, gently placing her down on the mattress and attending to her heels that kept its lustre finish. Ice was a creative element, challenging the user to expand their imagination in all sorts of ways, and it took 7 seconds for Alias to make the heels and 23 for the train. She even was inspired enough to decorate his HQ in snowy banners, snowflake confetti on the floors and ice sculptures once upon a time; when he tried to melt one of the sculptures, being slapped with the fact that her ice couldn't change states without her telepathic consent was when he realised Alias was a force to be reckoned with.

She had shown the infantry, along with the Arkham Knight, that she can change the density and consistency of her ice at will, making it harder than diamond thanks to its unique structure, flow like water and still be able to freeze and can even form snow. Her defensive mechanism freezes anything that is made to kill her without her mind being able to come up with a tactic quick enough, and she wears light to non-existent clothing because, well, she's Alias. The infantry actually thought there was a reason, and they even laughed together about it.

Putting the heels against her bedside, he decided to sit on the bed for easier removal of her cardigan, and slipped off one sleeve before having to raise her upper body off her bed to successfully strip it off. Something sparked and the Knight brought up his hand, "Rex, is her battle suit ready?"

Rex had simply appeared with a faint pop with what the Knight asked for, accustomed to Alias's tastes, that displayed the side she was on; the Arkham symbol was brandished on the entire back. Once he was handed the suit and Rex winked before vanishing quicker than light, it took the Arkham Knight a good 5 minutes to replace the dress with the suit but took him a couple seconds to recall what he saw.

A distant memory adorned on her left hip in the form of a scar, the shape of an S with four numbers beside it: 0001. He was just pissed off because he didn't notice it until now and because he didn't take out Syndicate himself. Even so, they were back on-grid haunting Alias with poltergeists brave enough to try and not just take her out but him too. Batman's first, Syndicate can wait for the apocalypse for all he cared.

He didn't take into account how speedily time moved past him and it sped up his movements, going through her bedside for a untouched IV catheter and carefully introduced it into the vein in her backhand, pulling out the needle subsequently. She had told him that if she were to black out unexpectedly, even though this wasn't unexpected considering, to fill her up with cryogenic blood to help her regenerate what was lost. Maybe that's why she was so careful, she didn't have a regenerative factor: a major weakness to many but at least she doesn't make it obvious. Fastening the catheter in place with a strip of tape the Knight joined the tip of the drip to the catheter and hung it on her backboard, the blue liquid already being sucked from the pouch, through the tube and into her veins.

Alias exhaled slowly, her chest falling as if her lungs were suddenly responsible for her respiration, and her glossy lips parted as she unconsciously moved her head to the side. There were some things the Arkham Knight couldn't understand, and one of them was lying in front of him. He made her cry, stretched her beyond her limit, even lied to her.

Almost killed her.

She wasn't just Alias. She was a woman who was driven onto the road of immorality, cracked and broken beyond recognition. Lost her unborn child, lost her future, lost her family. She lost everything. So why would she cling onto him, the Arkham Knight, a man who was also driven onto the same road? A man who was forced to drop his beliefs of humanity and change it into vengeance?

Vengeance. That was what she meant. Under her tears, she had told him something. **You weren't the only one Batman left behind.** The Knight stood up, she was there? Back at the Asylum? Batman...made Alias the same way he made the Arkham Knight.

Same story, different names.

He clenched his fists, festering anger wanting to rise up his chest and beat the everloving crap out of someone. It spanned throughout his muscles and flesh, burning him raw from the inside that his fists couldn't stop shaking. Someone he...cared deeply about...Alias was just as broken as him, and Batman was going to pay with his life.

 **"Batman dies,"** he repeated his words again, letting it echo around the room, only with an edge of ferocity that added to his demonic tone. **"Tonight."**


	11. Evanescent

_**Took me almost 3 years to realise this scene was an hallucination. Wow, I'm slow.**_

* * *

Amidst all the chaos, the terror and the disarray, the once snoozing figure moaned as her eyes fluttered, feeling the soft mattress underneath her body in contrast to the metallic chest she fell against before she lost consciousness. She wasn't sure how long she was out for, felt like a couple days at least, but the words of Scarecrow's plan resonated in her mind of creating the reality of fear on Halloween.

The first thing she felt was the change of clothes, her breathable battle suit that the Arkham Knight personally ordered to construct feeling like a warm, third skin on her body. The second was the uncomfortable IV catheter in her hand that she simply pulled out once she swung her legs off the mattress. The third was...loneliness, her room eerily quiet and empty of Breaker and Rex. They probably moved to HQ to avoid being affected by the fear toxin, and Alias flicked her sort-of dry hair back as the chemical agent in the room barely made her fearful. The stormy look in her eyes was a sign that she already faced her fears, and that she had no reason to be afraid. Even of herself.

As she was about to leave her bed, her senses picked up beeping and she looked at the source, a tracking device sitting on her bedside with a little note beside it. On that same bedside rested a digital clock and her earpiece, and she widened her eyes at the time. It was 1:42. She had only been sleeping for more than an hour. Alias fiddled with the earpiece and snatched the tracking device off the bedside, finding herself reading the note rather than using the small electronic. The Meta was slightly confused, as the side she read only said her name in cursive handwriting, but when she turned it over she had finally realised her mistake.

"We promised..." She whispered aloud, frustration and sorrow rising up her throat. "Remember? Knight...what are you..." She was so entranced by him, the Arkham Knight, that his goals became hers but that wasn't it. She was entranced by him because...the note had fallen onto her lush carpet rug, a deep blush spreading against her freckled cheeks; a reason too personal, too intimate for even her to handle. When she brought the misty haze to her eyes, Alias marched to her balcony doors and slammed them open with enough force to smash the glass, her glowing eyes taking in the City of Fear that had now become a reality. The yellow-brown cloud cloaked Gotham City in layers of terror and dread, affecting those with severe psychological trauma the longer they were enveloped in it and blurring their fears with their conscious mind. From here she could hear the screaming, the fighting, the crying. The fear that was happening.

Scarecrow actually did it.

He managed to bring the city to its knees, force it into submission and relay its punishment back. She wanted to smile at the boss' success but her mind was on other things, and her hands let off an icy aura before a glacier launched her high into the air. The Meta landed silently on a rooftop and cover-rolled to cushion the force, already recovering and streaking across to the next rooftop. She traversed across the city with ease, using her ice as boosters to other buildings and when she made it to the bridge connecting to Bleake Island, she created one last ice thruster to rocket her over the raised bridges and grunted when she landed in a squat.

She brought a hand to the earpiece as the connection had restored and overheard a conversation with Scarecrow and...him. "The Cloudburst won't withstand another strike. Retreat."

 **"No,"** the Arkham Knight replied and Alias began darting through the streets of Bleake, the tracker she hooked onto her utility thigh belt responding to her nearing proximity. **"This is to the end."** As deviant and stubborn as he was, he sounded wounded having to face the man that left him behind, confront Batman even after what he did to him, and she furrowed her brows in anguished realisation. Although her stamina was supposedly limitless, the toxin had greatly reduced her capabilities and had collapsed against the wall when she turned the corner that led to a small flight of stairs. Even with her skin and hair starting to burn as she overworked her muscles, Alias knew she couldn't stop and used the wall as support as she staggered up the steps.

 **"You don't deserve friends. You don't deserve anyone!"**

The Meta Mercenary dropped to her hands and knees, her body beginning to shut down on her as the toxin was actually overwhelming her, her hair fizzing and burning in reaction to the sense overload. "No...I...have to...get to him..." She gasped, heaving herself off the cracked concrete with one push and wobbled for a moment, feeling the misty haze shatter her face and her hands came up. "I have to...get...Knight..." Tracing the crack down her cheek with a thumb, she removed her hands and used her willpower to move her legs and arms as she jogged through a set of shops and found herself dodging a speeding black vehicle. Once her composure was regained, she felt the ground tremble under her feet as a tank rolled past her in the hunt for that black vehicle, images flashing into her mind of the same certain tank.

Knight.

Alias rushed over to the heavy armour without thinking, throwing the tracking device onto the floor in a bout of relief, and was shoved back a step as the round that struck the tank let out a shockwave, the Cloudburst that was mounted on top starting to overheat and fry the circuitry. "Knight...!" She called his name when the hatch flipped open, the Arkham Knight clambering out desperately before his body fell limp, and, when she was sure Batman left his battalion-of-a-car to 'rescue' the Knight, pushed herself to summon ice under her feet with a another crack across her nose the result of her persistence. It took a moment before Alias was fired skyward at the right time but the blast from the exploding tank affected her trajectory and threw her onto the rooftop of an abandoned shop/apartment, at a high enough altitude the toxin wasn't capable of reaching.

Her body was screaming out to her, the smell of burning flesh bringing a nauseous feeling to her stomach but she got up almost instantly, leaping the gap that separated her rooftop from his and rushed clumsily to his side. "Knight? Knight! Answer me!" She hooked her hand under the nape of his neck and held a hand to his chest, shaking his head gently while feeling for his heat signature by sliding her palm on top of his chestplate. At first, she couldn't sense anything and the need to wake him up became more desperate but she was too focused on listening to the sound of his voice to feel a gloved hand encircle around her wrist.

The Arkham Knight groaned, his hand moving up her arm to grab her shoulder, and Alias tried for a smile but was distracted by Batman punching nothing but thin air under him as if he pinned an invisible person and was serving blows to the face. And that was when she saw it, the fear in his lime green eyes; Batman had nothing to be scared of, but Joker's death must've affected him so much that she could see the psychotic bastard in him. "We're getting out of here. Now."

Fading in and out of reality, The Knight didn't respond to her as she pulled him into a sitting position and hooked his arm over her shoulder, managing to get him onto his feet while his weight was mostly pressed against her. "If...only I had...a helmet with...real-time HUD..." Her face had cracked once again, splintering the ones that had already surfaced into several paths along her jawline, left eye and lips. She hissed as the searing pain grew worse underneath her skin but merely laughed it off as they neared the edge of the rooftop. She wasn't going to let her limitations get the best of her, she didn't care if she died trying to get him back to HQ. She knew he would've done the same for her.

Her mind sent clear messages of conjuring an icy pathway but her body didn't respond as she was lifted off the floor and almost kicked out of reflex, but the arm that curled around her waist calmed her down and brought a rosy tint to her cheeks. **"Don't push yourself,"** he told her softly, bringing out the grappling hook from his utility belt and aiming it at a taller structure. **"You didn't have to come, y'know."**

"You...wouldn't have left me..." She admitted shyly, holding onto his torso out of safety as she felt gravity wanting to overcome them. "Neither will I."

 **"You're full of surprises, Alias."**

"I...I feel...I-I don't know..."

 **"You better not be passing out on me. We're too close."**

"I'll try not to...hey, urm, Knight...thank you...for not shooting me, I guess―"

 **"Jason...it's Jason."**

"Jason, huh..." Alias cooed weakly, the Arkham Knight moving her off his shoulder and into his arms when he landed on an apartment complex that homed a chopper, and she let her eyes trail upward to his glowing, digital visor before cupping his angular yet streamlined face. She chuckled, the same flowery sound as when they first encountered each other; a Meta Mercenary that would kill without hesitation and the Arkham Knight that would've killed her without hesitation. To be honest, the thought of him holding Alias like this, knowing how close they were in terms of relationships, never occurred to him. The Knight had the concept of Metas being somewhat invincible, but there's this frozen maiden who would literally crack when she had reached her limit but kept forcing her hand.

The Knight used his left hand to open the door on the passenger side of the aerial vehicle, cautiously placing her in the seat just in case his sudden movements caused her skin to fracture, and, with a reluctant hand, traced his thumb over the jagged line that stretched from her left brow bone to her mildly sheen lips. He was taken aback when she held onto his hand and leaned into his touch, her eyes kept shut with the misty blue haze burning against them due to the cracks impairing her standard vision. "No, it's...it's not your fault, Jason..." She spoke in a hush tone, concentrating on how carefully he touched her face and felt guilt radiate off him. "I chose to come back for you...remember?"

 **"But why? Why did you come all this way for me? I'm not worth your time, Alias, or your life."**

"I...have my reasons..." The Knight dropped his head for a moment as he moved his hand away from Alias's splintering face, slamming the door shut and jogging around to the pilot seat, and flicked on and pressed several switches and buttons that consequently brought the chopper to life. She sunk into her seat as the comfort brought on sudden tiredness, a faint smile on that broken face as she knew she didn't have to worry anymore, didn't have to keep her guard raised almost all the time. Just basking in his presence, Jason's presence, was enough to tell her that she was going to be okay, that her life was a gift and not a curse. She didn't have to hide her broken pieces anymore.

I have reason enough for you to be my purpose of living; I hope that's reason enough to keep you alive.


	12. Blizzard

"Seriously?" Was the only question that came to Alias's mind when she burst into her room. She didn't want to believe Breaker, but this made her reluctant about him telling the truth or not. But no, Breaker wasn't joking; he was sitting there in the most docile manner possible in the centre of her room, although the sheet of sweat on his forehead perceived otherwise, with the Arkham Knight aiming a pistol at his temple. "Knight, put the gun down."

 **"Not until you tell me the truth."**

"What...what are you talking about? I have nothing to hide."

 **"You're not breathing."** Alias froze, looking down at her chest and was surprised herself that her lungs didn't inflate and deflate like everyone else's in the room. She never really noticed that, since she could still breathe and having to remind the brain that the cells needed oxygen was a reflexive order. **"I've been watching you closely, Alias, and you're not breathing. In fact, you should be dead."**

"I-I don't understand..."

 **"I've got guys finding out who you are, everything about you...you really don't know who you are, do you?"**

"What are you―" Alias's sentence was cut short as a cold spray of water flew at her from behind, drenching her hair and back, and the Knight raised his head as she clambered onto the floor and struggled to breathe and her hair begun to kink up and curl in response to her absence of oxygen. She rolled onto her back as her face twisted and warped, her lips flushing a dark blue as her body begged for air.

 **"You breathe through your hair, which is why you never let anyone touch it. It's an unconscious reflex that you never realised."** The Knight moved away from Breaker, who let out a quiet, shaky exhale of relief, to squat in front of Alias and see her hair be deprived of air, slowly dying light blue from the ends as if the locks were essentially becoming pale. **"You didn't know that, huh, did you?"**

"...S-sir," Breaker cut in, although he felt his opinion was going to get him killed but realised Rex wanted to step in. "You're gonna kill her." pneumonia

Alias reached for the Knight with wide eyes, her fingers curling around his calf as strength was drained out of her, her hair clinging to the salt that was present in the water. **"You're right."** The Knight clicked his fingers and the same militia that threw saltwater on her handed him a bottle of fresh water, the Meta gritting her teeth at the burning sensation as it was poured on her. She rolled again, onto her chest, shuddering as the kink to hair relaxed and was restored to its original colour.

"I...never knew...I was dead," she finally answered him, her voice as strained as her attempt to push herself off the floor and held up a weak hand in rejection when Rex wanted to help her up. "In fact...I only know...what they wanted me to know..."

 **"You had severe pneumonia when Syndicate found you, which is why they altered your respiratory system."**

Alias had gotten off the floor and straightened up, losing her balance just when she found it and fell into a pair of muscular arms. Using them as support she steadied herself, her legs still shaking under her weight. "You say it...as if I wanted this to happen..."

He packed away his firearm, **"I never said you did."**

"But, just now...you lost your faith in me. You thought I...surrounded myself in lies...to hide myself away. So tell me..." She pushed herself off the blonde man and staggered towards the Arkham Knight, falling against his chest as her knees bucked under her. "Are you...just as broken as me?" The Knight only looked at her, unable to fathom a suitable reply as she collapsed onto him, the lack of oxygen her body was forced to endure causing her to black out. He didn't mean to put her through that, he wanted to prove something; before he let her fall he swept her off her feet seamlessly, putting her in the bridal carry with her head resting on his shoulder.

"Sir..."

Any excuse will do. **"...Breaker, I need you and Rex at HQ in 20. Start going through combat exercises with Charlie team until you know it yesterday."**

"But what about Alias? Is she gonna be okay?" He let his digital gaze rest on her face, so calm and content in contrast to the wet hair and clothes that stuck to her skin. And the face that was hidden underneath furrowed its brows. He didn't realise how different she was until now. Even when he made her go through all of that, he was expecting a punch or two or possibly even a bullet somewhere fleshy. But she didn't get mad, not even slightly upset. So why? Why didn't she scream out, try and rip out his throat? Why didn't she disarm him and just shoot his visor? Why didn't she, simply, kick his ass?

Because Alias was different.

 **"She'll be fine. Just get to HQ stat."** Breaker, who was still shook about being held hostage against his own will by his superior ally, found it challenging to get up from his chair but with the help of Rex they blinked out of sight, and the lone henchmen in red and grey briefly nodded before leaving Alias's room.

For someone he intentionally wanted to put in her place, his mind was confused at the mixed emotions that sparked every nerve in his body, and it annoyed him; like he was being complimented and insulted at the same time. Before, when he would even be in the same room as Alias, all he wanted to do was floor her after she beat him in hand-to-hand combat in front of the Alpha team. Now, however, after spilling every feeling she knew to him, he saw a woman lost between revenge and solitude, lost in the wind and following its direction. A woman who didn't know the difference between living and living in death.

Alias was just as ambiguous as himself, which was why...which was why he didn't want to leave her. Wait. Wait, wait. Did he...did his mind just do that? The thing? The thing where, even though he hated her with a burning passion, he loved her just the same? Loved her? He...he loved her. He'd fight himself not to admit that but here he was, looking after her when he was the one who pushed her. Damn, she wasn't persistent or desperate for love, she was searching for it somewhere inside the shell of a broken man. She's somehow found it in him, and had greedy intentions to steal it off her so he could understand what it felt like, what it felt like to love.

He sighed, side-glanced at her king-size bed and sauntered over to it, gently placing her down on the mattress and attending to her heels that kept its lustre finish. Ice was a creative element, challenging the user to expand their imagination in all sorts of ways, and it took 7 seconds for Alias to make the heels and 23 for the train. She even was inspired enough to decorate his HQ in snowy banners, snowflake confetti on the floors and ice sculptures once upon a time; when he tried to melt one of the sculptures, being slapped with the fact that her ice couldn't change states without her telepathic consent was when he realised Alias was a force to be reckoned with.

She had shown the infantry, along with the Arkham Knight, that she can change the density and consistency of her ice at will, making it harder than diamond thanks to its unique structure, flow like water and still be able to freeze and can even form snow. Her defensive mechanism freezes anything that is made to kill her without her mind being able to come up with a tactic quick enough, and she wears light to non-existent clothing because, well, she's Alias. The infantry actually thought there was a reason, and they even laughed together about it.

Putting the heels against her bedside, he decided to sit on the bed for easier removal of her cardigan, and slipped off one sleeve before having to raise her upper body off her bed to successfully strip it off. Something sparked and the Knight brought up his hand, "Rex, is her battle suit ready?"

Rex had simply appeared with a faint pop with what the Knight asked for, accustomed to Alias's tastes, that displayed the side she was on; the Arkham symbol was brandished on the entire back. Once he was handed the suit and Rex winked before vanishing quicker than light, it took the Arkham Knight a good 5 minutes to replace the dress with the suit but took him a couple seconds to recall what he saw.

A distant memory adorned on her left hip in the form of a scar, the shape of an S with four numbers beside it: 0001. He was just pissed off because he didn't notice it until now and because he didn't take out Syndicate himself. Even so, they were back on-grid haunting Alias with poltergeists brave enough to try and not just take her out but him too. Batman's first, Syndicate can wait for the apocalypse for all he cared.

He didn't take into account how speedily time moved past him and it sped up his movements, going through her bedside for a untouched IV catheter and carefully introduced it into the vein in her backhand, pulling out the needle subsequently. She had told him that if she were to black out unexpectedly, even though this wasn't unexpected considering, to fill her up with cryogenic blood to help her regenerate what was lost. Maybe that's why she was so careful, she didn't have a regenerative factor: a major weakness to many but at least she doesn't make it obvious. Fastening the catheter in place with a strip of tape the Knight joined the tip of the drip to the catheter and hung it on her backboard, the blue liquid already being sucked from the pouch, through the tube and into her veins.

Alias exhaled slowly, her chest falling as if her lungs were suddenly responsible for her respiration, and her glossy lips parted as she unconsciously moved her head to the side. There were some things the Arkham Knight couldn't understand, and one of them was lying in front of him. He made her cry, stretched her beyond her limit, even lied to her.

Almost killed her.

She wasn't just Alias. She was a woman who was driven onto the road of immorality, cracked and broken beyond recognition. Lost her unborn child, lost her future, lost her family. She lost everything. So why would she cling onto him, the Arkham Knight, a man who was also driven onto the same road? A man who was forced to drop his beliefs of humanity and change it into vengeance?

Vengeance. That was what she meant. Under her tears, she had told him something. **You weren't the only one Batman left behind.** The Knight stood up, she was there? Back at the Asylum? Batman...made Alias the same way he made the Arkham Knight.

Same story, different names.

He clenched his fists, festering anger wanting to rise up his chest and beat the everloving crap out of someone. It spanned throughout his muscles and flesh, burning him raw from the inside that his fists couldn't stop shaking. Someone he...cared deeply about...Alias was just as broken as him, and Batman was going to pay with his life.

 **"Batman dies,"** he repeated his words again, letting it echo around the room, only with an edge of ferocity that added to his demonic tone. **"Tonight."**


	13. Red

The Meta Mercenary rolled her shoulders back as she walked away, taking down yet another horde of thugs after they tried to gun her down, with the driver embedded into the roof of the stolen car and his followers scattered around him. Her Arkham suit hasn't changed, but she added a two-tail jacket with a high collar and no sleeves, her cherry blossom hair in a messy bob and lilac eyes coated with a lustre sheet of fog. Five months ago, Gotham had been revealed the legend that protected them from injustice. Scarecrow, with his cruel cunning, manipulated Batman's fears to show the world the man behind the mask.

And that man, was Bruce Wayne.

Alias wasn't as surprised as she thought she would be, all things considered. She knew she heard that voice somewhere, Bruce Wayne the billionaire playboy who at night dressed up as a bat and played, almost, by the rules. Then again, not many people who would see what the Dark Knight was capable of were brave enough to concentrate on his voice. They'd be too busy insulting him, or screaming about their broken wrist.

She wondered what would happen to Gotham now, would people have to step up to protect it since Bruce was gone? Even after five months, more than half of the initial population didn't return from the neighbouring cities in fear that a force like Scarecrow would threaten their lives again. In all honesty, she wouldn't mind having to break some skulls in honour of him. But she remembered what he said, about her future. Maybe this was her future, being part-time anti-heroine and being Gotham's shield from impending pandemonium. She knew the rest of the Bat Family would be thinking the same. There was no point in mourning, just living and hoping.

With no leader to depend on, the militia's foundation collapsed and began fighting themselves with some occupying defence towers and others joining the thugs in whatever fight they were fighting. Of course Batman had done all he could to revive Gotham, but Alias knew better.

And so did Nightwing.

Ice had created a stairway that simply disintegrated when she reached the rooftop, remembering the time and place to meet the vigilante, and moved her hand in a elegant fashion to embroider her outfit in a light blue gradient just for fun. Secretly, she missed being with the militia and coming together to share stories and crack jokes, the only times they could really bond as a family. Family, why did her mind wander to something as sensitive as family but she didn't mind. Alias had hardened herself after the reveal of Bruce, and the disappearance of the Arkham...Jason. Even now she still couldn't convince herself and wondered if she ever could.

She smiled to herself as she looked over her shoulder, diverting her sight from the city to see neon blue and a cocky grin. Usually she worked alone, but finding a body impaled and disfigured by a different shade of impenetrable ice brought the suspicion of a certain Flying Grayson. "You're late."

"No," he replied, packing his escrima sticks on his back. "You're just early."

"...anything?"

"Ran the DNA through the database, and it...kinda points to you."

"That's funny."

"What? What's funny? Did I forget to laugh?"

"You can't detect my DNA because I can mute it. Robin couldn't even tell the difference between regular ice and my ice without trying to break it."

"...so..."

"Whoever committed the murder is trying to frame me, another Meta with similar abilities maybe. I'll keep investigating, but here." Alias threw him a small usb stick over her head and he caught it in one hand, examining what was written on it before lifting his gaze to Alias, who had turned around with her hip cocked to one side and her arms crossed tight on her chest. "It's Syndicate's files. There's firewalls I can't knock down and security nodes that won't give me access. I'm not a technical person, so to be honest I didn't know where the hell to start. Can't stop me from trying, right?"

"I'll get it unlocked as soon as possible."

"Thanks, Grayson. Appreciate the help."

"Ey, don't sweat. Just stay beautiful, will ya?"

She chuckled, "Sometimes I wonder if you're flirting or trying to annoy me."

"My number's still up for grabs." Nightwing began to jog away from her with a playful expression. "Not everyone has the chance to get it."

"I'll see you later, Blue."

"My offer still stands." Alias shook her head to herself just as he leapt past the edge and reached down to her belt to tap a button on her comm device, the electronic replaying the voice message once again so she could surround herself in nostalgia. It wasn't that she couldn't get over it, she kept falling in love with his voice the more she replayed it and, with constant repetition, knew the words by heart but didn't decide to mouth them. In fact, to further indulge herself in her world a perfect replica of the Arkham Knight formed from ice appeared before her. When the message started, the figure moved in the same manner as the original, that swagger to its walk and tough sway to its arms, its disciplined posture and raised robotic chin. Hell, the way the natural and synthetic light hit it was realistic, and the colours were retained to the t.

" **Alias,** " it started. " **If you're getting this, I want you to know that you mean everything to me. Nobody had ever given me the chance to express what I really felt except you, and every time you gave me the opportunity I pushed you away. But you still insisted in seeing what I saw, feeling what I felt. Unlike you, I was born an empty vessel that had been filled with…with hate, a~and anger, and revenge…that I wanted to put in a bullet and between Bruce's eyes. People don't change, Alias. There are no heroes and there are no villains. There are only those who think they're doing good to this godforsaken place and those who realise you need to fight to survive. We both know where we stand.** "

The replica walked up to her before pulling her into a loving hug that it wanted to last forever; but she didn't respond for it was just animate ice created by memories and imagination. By now, she could hear the wet strain and anguish in his pre-recorded voice and wanted to cry for him. " **I'm...I'm sorry. I don't deserve you, I never did. And yet, I bet you've become someone better. Better than the ashes I've become...I promise you, Alias...I'll find you.** " It had held the nape of her neck with both hands and placed a mouthless kiss on her forehead before collapsing into shards on the floor in unison to the recording stopping, the Meta flicking her hair as she walked away from it.

"It doesn't take that long to find me," she muttered as she rocketed to a higher vantage point that overlooked another defence tower, her words laced with burning ice. Nine guys, all armed and protected by two sentry guns and a drone. Without warning she fired into the air, a dusty afterimage left in her wake, and landed lightly behind the militia in control of the drone who was casually whistling to himself. Alias stepped back once before leaping forward and landing a dropkick to his back, unable to find balance as he helplessly tumbled over the edge with a scream alerting those close by.

"What the hell was that?"

"I'm not sure. I'll take a look."

"I-I'll cover you."

She had frozen the drone and summoned it to her possession, leaving the now exposed area by taking a quiet back route and the hazy mist rose to her face an iridescent blue; having spent most of the five months training, the hazy mist had evolved to the point it appeared like a glowing scar and gave her more than infrared perception but seeing through solid matter too. The two that heard their friend fall to their unconsciousness had now realised they weren't alone, and everyone moved with frightened caution. "Hey, yo―" The militia that had turned to react to her presence was launched off his feet by the frozen drone she threw at him, and struggled to clear the fog that obscured his mind.

"Sleep tight," Alias sighed before she lunged down and struck the centre of his chest, watching his body succumb to the darkness and lose function. She straightened up and analysed her situation again, only frowning when the number of militia left had suddenly changed. First there were seven, and now there's four. And the sentry guns were taken care of too. Someone was here, and stealing her count. With the militia's pistol in her hand she sauntered to the middle of the reconstructed rooftop and stopped at the balcony; there they were, whoever they were, shooting two frames in the backs of their heads. "How annoying."

A tinted glacier had erupted underneath her feet mid-step and she flipped backwards as she fell past the edge, touching down on the so-called ground floor on one knee. She had lifted herself off the ground when she pointed the gun behind her and pulled the trigger, and then above the anonymous man; the guys that were hit impacted the floor and fell over the balcony, already dead. "I don't know who you are," she told the man as the mist faded, crossing her arms. "But I didn't ask for a shadow."

"Talk about a thank you," he snapped back with his voice sounding oddly familiar. He was dressed sorta casual-military, with a black-red layout, a dark beige leather jacket and a red visor withholding his identity. And...was that an alternate Bat symbol slandered on his chest? Who was this guy? It was as if he was insulting what Batman lived for. "I fucking helped you take these guys down―"

"I didn't ask for your help. Remind me, who are you?"

"Someone you don't need to pay attention to."

"I'll call you...Red. Yeah, Red. Listen, since you're here, may I suggest you don't involve yourself in business you don't want to be involved with."

"You don't tell me what to do."

"Probably. Rex?" Alias called the name off her shoulder and a man shuddered into view, his green, piercings eyes contrasting his confident expression. Rex had definitely changed since his time as part of the militia with his hair loosely tied back, sleeveless bomber jacket and quarter-lengths; apparently the chill of tonight, and possibly every other night, didn't faze him one bit. His expression dropped, however, once his eyes found the visored man and fell to a defensive posture.

"Red Hood," he spat coldly with his gold-plated western accent and reached behind him whilst the Meta Mercenary raised a curious brow.

"Red Hood, huh? Cute name." Red Hood aimed his pistol at Alias and fired, not expecting anything less as she caught the bullet in her hand and showed him the used ammunition encased in ice. "You remind me of someone. He tried to kill me the first time we met."

"Charming."

"I know. I could imagine him being more charming underneath the inviting armour he wore, but he never gave me the chance to admire it. Sometimes, I even wanted to be selfish to him but you don't need to know that."

"Alias, this guy is bad news," Rex told her, making sure the anti-hero was at the corner of his eyes. "I don't trust him, not one bit."

"Wow, insulting a guy holding a gun to you. Yeah, like that's really smart."

"Maybe," she replied as she threw the cold bullet away from her, and began to slowly make her way towards Red Hood. "But there's something...intriguing about him. Especially those guns. They look oddly familiar...almost too familiar." Then she suddenly blurred towards him and swung her arm that aimed for his head but he ducked under it, turned into her with a stunning elbow and drove her body into the floor, the finishing touch pointing his pistol at her head.

"Too slow."

"Alias!" Rex was so close to moving but then she started laughing, filling the vicinity with a cloud of confusion. She watched the nuzzle before whisking herself off the floor, fixing her clothes and hair and sighed.

"I knew it," Alias cooed softly, turning her body halfway before extending her arm and turning back to Red Hood; a light violet, glassy pistol was pressed against his red visor and her expression faded from something subtle. Even Rex could see the betrayal, anger and revenge in her eyes, the way she gripped the weapon, how her arm didn't waver for a moment. Now it looked like a very, very close showdown with both parties a tug away from ending each other's lives, but the Meta Mercenary looked like she just tapped back into her past of being a mercenary. Without the close confrontation. "Who, are you?" She asked sternly, the quiet rustling of footsteps and overhead creaking ringing in her ears with gradual persistence.

She didn't expect a straightforward reply, she wasn't hoping for one, but when he answered it was like a sudden blast into her past. "A dead man walking."

Boom.

Her eyes were filled with a blinding light. Pain flooded her body in white-hot waves. No sound, no smell, no...life. Just burning embers and metal shrapnel.

Alias regained her grasp of reality and realised she was falling, the rooftop the threesome was on destroyed with debris flying in all directions, and had to twist her body out of way of a chunk of metal. She had slicked her bangs back with a thin sheen of ice before deciding to react properly to the situation, glancing up and spotting Rex. Only, he didn't look too good. "Rex!" She flipped and landed on a section of brick wall and went on one knee to keep her place, moved the falling wreckage out of her path with clusters of dry ice and blasted off with violet whispers trailing behind her. In seconds she caught the Meta but the velocity she travelled at threw them both towards the blazing building, crashing through the wall, knocking over empty shelves and tumbling across the cold floor.

When they had stopped moving, Alias lifted her upper body off Rex's chest and and stopped to stare at his face. She couldn't tell if he was breathing and his heat signature was dropping slowly. But the tears that managed to form fell onto his bomber jacket, and she smiled. "It's him, Rex..." her voice wet and lost as she got up. Everything about Red Hood was exactly the same as everything about him: his fighting style, his guns, his voice, his standoffish aura. The one thing, however, that was different was his face, painted red to show the blood of the man he once was. The man she's been trying to find for how many months, was living in another man's vengeance. "It's Jason." The Meta Mercenary barricaded the door behind Rex with ice before leaping out, plummeting aside the debris once again.

She rebounded off pieces of metal, brick and plaster as she descended and found the hooded man reach behind him for his other gun, aiming up his iron sights. Alias's face shifted colour once again and her instincts kicked in, deflecting his rounds with her own shots of ice and that caused frosty mini-explosions in the freefall. But the Meta wasn't ready to play games and the tears froze against her freckled cheeks, her proximity getting closer and closer.

They had been falling for so long, they've forgotten how close they were to the ground.


	14. Retrograde

_Suddenly I'm hit. Is this darkness of the dawn? And your friends are gone, and your friends won't come. So show me where you fit._

"...sure they don't try to…"

"...―n't worry, I got th―..."

Everything was loud. Everything hurt. He remembered his back and ribs shattering on impact with the concrete floor. He remembered his knee buckling out of place. He remembered her calling out his name, his real name, over and over again, but got no answer. He remembered her creating a dome of ice to shield them from the carnage that kept falling, how her face splintered once.

He remembered her taking off his cracked visor, the burning sorrow in her eyes, and her soft, delicate hands tracing the mark of his unwanted past before she pressed her forehead against his own. Her whispering the words he once said to her on multiple occasions, words that meant everything and nothing.

We promised, remember?

Her tears burned raw against her cheeks as she froze over Gotham and everyone in it, out of anger. Out of regret that she couldn't save the man she loved. Once again, she was alone in the world because she couldn't find his pieces.

He died, of excessive internal bleeding, irreparable fracture and shock. So why was he here, hearing her voice and the sound of her heels move closer towards him?

Red Hood lazily lifted his head up from the pillow, dazed by his snooze and the numbness, and tried to sit up but the wave of searing agony spread throughout his chest, and he moaned and clutched his torso in response. A blurry figure had turned and tilted their head before sauntering to him, a tray of food in their hands. They placed the tray on the bedside and sat beside him, and that was when his eyes regained focus; it was Alias, with her cloudy violet eyes and light pink hair, each freckle on her face as unique as the last.

"Hey," she smiled warmly and placed a hand on his chiseled chest, and he sighed in relief. Light curled around her fingertips as she glared down at him, not expecting to see a warmer gaze than last time. His internal injuries slowly reverted itself, Red Hood feeling uncomfortable as his bones snapped back into place, and the blood that spilled into his body put back in its rightful place. It felt weird. But rather than holding onto her shoulder for reassurance he reached up for her face and cupped her cheeks, and she leaned into his touch.

"Why aren't you scared of me?"

"Why?" she echoed calmly and held his hand with both of her own. "Because I…"

 _I'll wait. So show me why you're strong. Ignore everybody else; we're alone now._

"―ey. Hey! Jason!"

Sound rose. Sensation rose. Heat signature rose.

Red Hood inhaled sharply before choking, his body cold upon the wintery concrete and his face burning red. He wasn't sure who was calling him, or shaking him, but they sounded familiar. Slowly but surely the sensory overload faded and his eyes widened at the sight of a beautiful pink-haired woman cowered over him with her face relaxing as they locked eyes. The world stopped moving, the snow stopped falling. Snowflakes had clung to her hair in a decorative fashion, and her eyes were glowing. She didn't understand how long he looked for her: his former HQ, her hotel room, her usual spots, even Arkham Asylum. He found the person that overlooked his mood swings, his flaws. He found her.

He finally found her.

"Blakelyn." Alias blinked in astonishment before rolling her eyes in an attempt to stop the tears cascading down her reddening cheeks, and nodded once.

"Jason," she whispered and leaned down to press her forehead against his, his hand moving to cup the nape of her neck. "It's you… It's really you. I finally found my Knight..."

 _You're on your own, in a world you've grown. Few more years to go; don't let the hurdle fall._

Time moved slow. Bullets flew past her, bullets were smacked from its trajectory, bullets became encased in ice. Red Hood was determined to kill her. Alias was determined to save him. With all this momentum, she'd doubt he'd survive with a fatal injury.

But she could.

"I'm sorry." She had streamlined her body to fall faster and, when she was close enough, she coiled her arms and legs around him while steering her body to be the landing cushion. At first, the vigilante was unaware of why an enemy was hugging him for dear life but when he realised his grappling hook was missing, he stopped protesting.

Now, he was sure this was the real Alias.

He pulled her closer to his chest and held her tight, hooking his chin over her shoulder with a glad smile on the face underneath.

"We promised."

Alias gasped.

They impacted the floor, hard. He felt his ribs crack against the force and screamed out in pain, their bodies bouncing before awkwardly tumbling to a stop. For a moment, the world fell dark, dizzying, silent. He had opened his eyes and realised her hold on him was lost, and found her several metres away from his position; her face was splintered and fragments had fallen, revealing the icy blue flesh underneath. The adrenaline that violently coursed through his body gave him the strength to stand up, until the numbing pain swarmed his ankle and he collapsed in response. He didn't even realise his leg was broken too. "Shit…! Alias? A...alias!" His breathing came out in pained, raspy breaths as he dragged himself across the snowy terrain and cowered over Alias, examining her face with tears stinging his eyes. "Alias?" He cupped her face gently, but her head lolled to the opposite side. She wasn't responding.

"Alias!" His head cocked up as a section of metal and plaster fragmented as it struck the floor. "Alias, c'mon! Alias...ah, shit...you gotta wake up. You gotta wake up!" Another piece of debris fell but closer this time, and a shard had recoiled off the floor before being embedded into Red Hood's visor. Without hesitation, he reached for the back of his head, ready to take off the mask that hid who he was but a hand firm around his wrist stopped him.

She choked and liquid crimson dribbled down her lips, her eyes barely open. "J...Jason… Don't...worry..."

"Alias!"

 _So be the girl you loved. Be the girl you loved._

Alias found herself aiming an ice replica of Red Hood's pistol at him and suddenly staggered back as all those possibilities flashed before her eyes, exhaling as if life was suddenly restored to her. What the hell was that? She saw her own death, felt her life thaw away, saw his face. Jason's face, and the scars that made him who he was then. He knew her name. Her real name. But she knew that wasn't her in those future events, because her ice wasn't blue.

No, it wasn't a premonition. If it was, Red Hood would've been more...approachable. That's it.

She gradually dropped her icy aim and let the pistol slip from her hand and reached for her comm device. "Alias. What are you doing? You're wasting time." Rex's words fell on deaf ears as it only took her a moment to play with it before she realised what she was doing, and tossed the electronic by Red Hood's feet.

"You promised me something, Knight."

Red Hood chuckled, "You have me mista―"

"Don't make regret leaving you behind." She flicked her hand, "Let's go, Rex." Rex let out a disappointed grunt before turning around to walk past the fire exit and the Meta Mercenary soon followed closely behind. "If you want to meet me, I'll be at the hotel. Don't keep me waiting."

And with that she disappeared. Red Hood dropped his arm, his smile hidden by his glassy facade. "Glad to see you haven't changed a bit...Alias."


	15. Orion

Alias bent down to pluck a handful of jasmine flowers off the floor of her balcony, admiring the soft scent it carried and suddenly reminiscing about the moment Poison Ivy saved Gotham City. How beautiful nature looked as sparks of pollen decorated the night air. To think she would swap sides and help Batman cure the city of a virus of fear, but only save the future as thugs still ruled the streets with balled fists and reckless determination. Yeah, putting the most wanted criminals behind bars did do the trick, but what about those who were waiting to rise above the asphalt? Those willing to be put in the crosshairs? That's what Bruce didn't understand; you couldn't just throw your competition in a cell, you had to eradicate them. Maybe that's what he was talking about...

She pressed her empty hand on the marble railing and glared at the massive screen that was on the adjacent building, Bruce's unmasking being played over and over again on a painful loop. It wasn't fair. Of course, curiosity can drive a man to do crazy stuff but she never would've thought his identity would be revealed so easily. The world's greatest detective to Gotham's kid billionaire, just like that. Alias flicked her hand and an icy knife was impaled in the screen, with a second causing the pixels to dance wildly and a third shutting the screen off completely.

"Feel better doing that? This city is already scarred, there's no hiding that." She peered off her shoulder as Red Hood walked up behind her, and she dropped her hand before turning around and almost tensed. She didn't expect him to be so close, she could practically hear the breathing that echoed about his helmet. He smelled so good. Woody and smoky, yet delicate to the senses. Just like the Arkham Knight. At least some things haven't changed. Then she pressed a hand to his chest, which made him respond by also placing a hand atop of hers, but she slipped past him to walk towards the glass doors.

"Are you not gonna tell me? Or do I have to wait for something stupid to happen?"

"Tell you what?"

"I know it's you, Jason. You can change your appearance as much as you want, but your scent and heat signature won't. It's still there...it's always there." Red Hood sighed as he turned to face her, her expression annoyed and hurt but it was subtle. As always. "Why are you being so distant with the one person who understood you, who actually...loved you? Why are you acting like this?"

"I'm not acting like anything. I'm just doing what Bruce could never accomplish. Just like Arkham, Gotham falls victim to the world's greatest detective and even then, he thought he could save everyone. He thought that he could stop the chaos once again but you know what they say...you can never fix a broken mirror." When he had finished talking, he had closed the gap between them again and Alias blinked away her tears, finding it difficult to look at his glassy face.

"But…" She stepped back a bit. "You never had the chance to hear how I feel."

"You're right. I'm listening. What's wrong?" He imagined that pain he would've felt when she slapped his red visor, his head slowly craning back to stare down back at her, and her cheeks reddened to her heated emotion. "Ow. Okay...I deserved that. I probably deserve more than that, but I won't push you―"

"You just leave me like that? You just think it's okay, after everything we went through, just to leave me behind? After what I've said, what I've felt, I thought…I thought I could put my life into someone's hands again, not have to keep my walls up anymore. I thought that person was you, but now I…now I don't know."

He chuckled, "I never thought you'd be so indecisive."

"I'm not indecisive, I-I'm just...confused. What, do I leave you...or love you? Do I abandon everything, or cherish the moments we had? I've always…" Alias looked up at him. "Ever since I met you, as the Arkham Knight, it was like I had seen you before, a thought from my past brought into my future. Only to find that our pieces were either lost or damaged and we have to fix ourselves together. Then I find out more about you, what you went through, why you're so...lost. The closer I wanted to get, you kept pushing me away. Then I realised, it wasn't out of anger, it was out of humility. You didn't want to hurt anybody else."

"Alias―"

"Jason, I...I just wanted to be certain that the person that's standing before me, is the same person I loved when I first met him. The guy who was willing to fight me and protect me all at the same time. That he isn't some guy willing to throw the life he was building aside to prove a point. I...I don't want that guy, because I didn't fall for him. I fell for you, Jason."

"...I'm sorry."

"I know you are." She exhaled. "I just wanted to get that off my chest before I let it consume me…"

"Then tell me...what do you want me to do?" By now, her back was pressed against the glass door with his hand planted near her head, and his visor inching closer and closer to her face. "What's it gonna take for you to trust me again?" Alias blinked and quickly looked away, only resulting in the visored vigilante holding her chin and bringing her cloudy eyes level again. Her limbs slowly moved upwards, both hands sliding up his armoured undergarment and she glared at the noticeable redesign of his mask. But she didn't waste the moment as her hand slid around to the back of his head and felt for the mechanism, only for the sections to decompress, move apart and loosen its hold.

Red Hood didn't move, didn't protest, didn't react when she finally took it off and revealed the face underneath. He half-expected her to react to him; although his skin was healthy-looking, he had covered his face for a reason. Alias let a tear cascade down her freckled face as she gently cupped his cheeks, and felt him shiver at her touch. But, no, he was beautiful even with his scars. His front bangs were white possibly due to tissue damage, and his face looked hardened yet youthful. Even his eyes were two different colours, one a natural blue and the other coated with a green tint. Jason had seen a war and wore it against his skin, his crystal eyes had seen more than a war. "I want you to stop pushing me away, Jason...I want you to stop thinking you're alone. I'm here for you...I'm always here for you."

Jason raised his brows. "We promised...right?" And before she could retaliate, his lips were already on hers and heat radiated off her cheeks like wildfire. The world had frozen in its place. He wrapped an arm around the small of her back and pulled her in, but she wasn't satisfied enough and tightened her hold on him just a bit. She didn't realise she melted so fast, because she tilted her head and let her hand slide up his chest, his left cheek and into the tufts of his jet-black hair. He leaned away from the kiss that felt like a lifetime and her breathing shook slightly, her eyes opening to gaze into his own. The world had just begun to thaw when he moved back and had his visor back in his possession. "I promise you, Blake…I'll find you."

"Wait!" Alias darted towards him but he had leapt off the balcony and vanished past the edge, and she knew he wouldn't be there if she tried to look. She let her fingers glide across her lips, the sensation, the taste, the texture of his own still there, still fresh. He...he kissed her. I mean, she was prepared for it but it felt so different it startled her. She was expecting a harsh kiss full of tongue and saliva, only to get a loving kiss with soft lips and warming hands. That was when she realised the city was to blame for this, for those who are seen as different are dangerous.

Jason could've killed her. Jason could've ended her life right then and there. But he didn't. Because she didn't cast him out.

The Meta Mercenary had forgotten about reality until beeping brought her back, her gauntlet lighting up as someone wanted her to go on the line. With a sigh she lifted her arm and pressed a panel. "Yes?"

"That USB stick of yours had more intel than we hoped for...and Tim says hi."

"What did it contain? And hello, Drake."

"A list of the suspect's affiliates, three of which are headed for the old mall on Founders...if you don't mind, I'm definitely crashing this party." The Arkham Knight's HQ. That's weird.

"Yeah, don't say that ever again. Ever."

"Why? I thought it was cool."

"More like corny."

"...someone's jealous, much."

"And I'll meet you there in 5, Gray. Come prepared though, having three affiliates in the same vicinity is usually a sign that their boss might show up. Also, did you figure out who their boss is?"

"Unfortunately, no. Barbs only had a set time before the data self-corrupted, but from what we know there's two; a male and a female. Both armed and both dangerous."

"Armed and dangerous. You sure you can handle it?"

"I thought you said we were gonna meet in 5. Now it's 4, and I'm halfway there." The line had cut and Alias laughed to herself before fixing her suit and jogging to the railing, and stopped just as she was about to jump. Her expression fell to a faint smile as her mind lingered to Jason's lips again, and didn't realise the jasmines in her hair until she reached up and felt the soft petals. An icy wind blew that snatched a jasmine out of her hair and she froze the rest in place.

"Jason."

It's always been hard for me to say goodbye. So I never do.

She gracefully flipped onto the rooftop of the mall and combed back her bangs as she admired the unconscious bodies littered about, alongside destroyed firearms, broken shields and snapped baseballs bats. Impressive. "You just couldn't wait, could you?" She questioned Nightwing, who was leaning against the wall beside their access point with a massive grin on his face.

"Well, I was gonna but you were gonna steal my count."

"So you steal mine instead?"

"Ah ah, not steal. Take back what's rightfully mine."

Alias rolled her eyes as she walked past him and pressed the button for the elevator. "Right. Status report."

"Arrival was 5 minutes ago so seems like we're on time. Chemical analysis indicates that they're hiding a bomb but the scale of which we're not entirely sure about. 13 guys in there, their bosses not. Nice flowers by the way. You should do this look more often." Alias sauntered in first and waited for Nightwing to enter before following him down to the lobby, having to use a couple more vents and floor grates to get to their updated destination. But before the Meta could open the door to the main lobby, she felt a firm hand on her shoulder; usually when he did this, something was wrong.

"Worried?"

"I won't lie to you, Blake."

"...I know you won't."

"You just seem…I don't know...not yourself. Is something up? I don't want whatever's bothering you to affect you."

"I'm fine, Gray. Thanks for asking."

"No. Nope. Nuh uh." He pulled her around so their eyes could meet and Alias pouted a bit. "I'm not gonna take that as an answer. That, even that―you're pouting. You don't pout unless something's wrong...who was it? Was it Tim? Oh, I knew it! I'll kick his ass―" She covered his mouth and tried for a smile.

"Shhh…" She hushed him and dropped her hand. "You're making too much noise...and it's nothing for you to worry about."

"Of course it's something to worry about if you don't tell me what's wrong with you!" he whispered loudly, trying his best to not let his voice suddenly crack into a shout. She sighed guiltily as the pain and anguish in his voice spread across his bare cheeks in heat, and she held his face in both hands.

"There's nothing wrong with me, Gray. We're in this together, so I plan on leaving together." Gray's face warped but relaxed when she moved to the door again, and brightened when she had glanced off her shoulder and shot him a playful wink. "Or at least in one piece." She didn't give him the chance to open his mouth when she opened the door and almost instantly dropped to a crouch, knowing that using her ice to boost her to the vantage points would be too loud in such a compact space so she was on ground duty whilst Nightwing, who was already swinging across the massive room, was air support. 13 guys, walking about the place.

Seemed simple enough.

9 counts of varied takedowns later and Alias was waiting for the next henchman to scale up the frozen escalator, while Nightwing was planning to take out another under his vantage point. Only after the fourth guy did they realise the situation they was in; a pretty boy in a leotard and a pink-haired mercenary, both capable of doing some serious damage. But not as serious as their leaders, the ultimate power couple in the followers' eyes. Which got Alias thinking, the masks they were wearing weren't masks. They were visors.

She was quick, heaving the henchmen off the floor using her lower body strength and his firearm to strangle him into unconsciousness, and felt him slump onto her back. "That was one of them," she muttered as she let go and moved towards Nightwing's position by hopping across the marble railings before staying put to assess the movements of the other three. One had turned right, into a hidden pathway full of floor grates, and two stayed together and passed a section of shrubbery. Alias peered up at the Flying Grayson for a signal. Then she smiled. "Choose your pick, Gray."

He glanced at the pair huddling together, then at the henchmen who had fired at air out of fear that one of them popped out to scare him, and gestured to her with a smirk. "Ladies first." She tilted her head as a response and darted across the railings before letting the hazy mist rise to her face, the lone henchmen just about to walk under her. Shifting her body over the railing, she hung for less than a second before dropping down onto unsuspecting shoulders and curled her leg around his neck, twisting her body so that it didn't hurt as much when they both fell on the floor. Once he stopped struggling, she removed her leg and moved into the open before waving her hand.

"Done over here. Take care of the other two so we can see what's really going on."

"If you so dearly insist." She reached down for the henchmen's face and examined the visor, noticing the familiar markings of the Knight's own visor. What was going on here? She was so conflicted, did Jason lie to her? Did he push her away once again? No. She shook her head, she wasn't going to let those thoughts anger her. Not when they…

Her senses spiked, and she gasped. That heat signature. They were on the main platform, but there was something wrong. "Gray, get down. They're here."

"They are? Guess I should go introduce myself."

"No, just―"

"Don't worry, I got this." She heard him swing across to the main platform and had to restrain her will to let out a blatant curse as she darted towards him, hopping over the railing and heard a round go off. Alias cried out his name as Nightwing stumbled back and collapsed onto one knee, the bullet wedged in his left bicep. Without a thought, the Meta rushed to his aid and held onto his arm. "Nevermind…" he struggled. "I don't...got this...ah-...God that hurts..."

"You've got some nerve…" Her words trailed off when she looked at the shooter, and every emotion coursed through her body that paralysed her to the spot. She remembered this person, whose memories of hers they were never in.

She couldn't believe it. She wouldn't believe it.


	16. Fission

_RH: If you thought that was the end of the story, then prepare to be dead wrong._

 _A: Why do have to be so dramatic?_

The shooter's identity was concealed by a tattered cloak that shimmered in the light, every inch of their visible skin covered in black and blue material and the gun they were using was a complete replica of Jason's gun; they had stepped forward once and Alias fired a warning shot of ice by their feet out of defence. She didn't notice Nightwing lose his balance until she felt his weight being pressed onto her, and she managed to transfer him into a seated position on the floor before she straightened up and glared at the shooter. It was something...about their aura. It was incredibly familiar. "Why does it feel like I know you?"

"'cause you do, Alias. Look, this is a really bad time, and I didn't mean to shoot Grayson―"

"How do you know his name?"

"I know everything. I came here 'cause you need my help."

"I don't think so." Alias ducked into a bolt and vanished in a cloud of dusty ice but the shooter barely moved a muscle, only looked over their right shoulder and ducked, fast. Nightwing didn't even see it happen, only Alias bounce across the floor and recover swiftly. His eyes were too slow to catch a speed so inhumanly fast. It was then that the Meta realised that their entire left arm was replaced with inorganic matter. "How did you…"

"The memories that you have about your meta origin ain't entirely true. Syndicate never existed through human eyes and yet was created by mortals. Your life was partly constructed. You're not even supposed to be alive." She blinked. Not...alive? Living? What the hell was this person talking about? Of course she's alive..only, Jason said the exact same thing. And so did Sinclair.

"As much as I...wanna listen to this," Nightwing hissed as he swayed to his knees. "I'm losing a lot of blood here…probably too much..."

"Then tell me, whoever you are," Alias spoke after she knelt down to deal with Grayson's injury; her hand let out a soft hue as light bent through her fingers and around his bicep. "What am I?"

"Long story short: as the first conditioned mercenary they wanted to test your limits, see how much 'ice queen' you can become while you're on the field. You deviated, they punished you and, in turn, your power turned against you, freezing your organs and killing you from the inside out. Alias died a couple years ago in Syndicate HQ, all the way in Britain, so I have reason to wonder why she's here healthy and kicking ass." As the cloaked figure was talking they slowly made their way forward, their steps careful and silent, and stopped a metre in front of the twosome. Their anatomy was more noticeable up close; it was a male with some sort of voice modulator. "Somehow you managed to wake up and it's only recently Syndicate caught onto your scent. I mean the first time you guys met, that was literally a couple guys out of the many they have back home."

"...so why am I here?"

"Why? I was gonna ask you the same thing, I honestly don't know. When I found out you were here, I pretty much turned rogue after pulling off that stunt to find you but, boy, Syndicate sure hate―"

"Stop saying that." Alias stood up again, with Nightwing in the fireman's carry. Her healing had an anaesthetic side-effect that caused the subject to be really drowsy. Considering she can undo phenomena, she never understood why it happened. "How can I believe someone who won't even reveal themselves? You can be anyone, for all I care."

"Okay, good point. Urm, well, I mean you don't have to take my advice―"

"Then have fun telling someone else. You better be happy I didn't kill you for shooting him and rousing suspicion of a bomb that doesn't exist." She turned and walked away from the man, a disappointed look on her freckled face as she took the stairs, and the shooter crossed his arms. He was determined to show Alias the truth, whether she cared or not.

"I know about the scar on your hip, Alias." As predicted, the Meta stopped in her tracks and glanced off her shoulder. "Subject 0001. How I know, don't ask. I know about him, the Arkham Knight who isn't really...Arkham Knight anymore. You tried to heal Grayson and only took away the wound and not the pain. Your healing is temporal and always have been: you can erase wounds from existence, reverse damage. Bring the dead back to life. But Syndicate have broken your powers breaking you, and you think ice is the only thing you can manipulate…if you let me show you, at least tell you of your story, I will straight up bounce out of Gotham and not come back for another...2 or 3 years. But if you let me leave, they will come after your head and will not stop tearing apart a city that's not theirs to find you. And I know you enjoy being here, do you not? Guess it's something to do with its grungy, neon layout. That's pretty cool."

Her cloudy, violet gaze lowered to the floor, her once tense face relaxed into one of curious concern. How does this man know so much about what she's capable of, know of Jason? Yet his aura felt comforting and volatile, like...like hers. Alias performed a gesture with her hand, and at the same time the man's hood was pulled off his head with an icy hand that materialised behind him. She froze, the words Rex had once said resonating in her mind: _A man in blue and black ambushed Syndicate. Not a combat Meta but his skills were flawless, disciplined. Claiming to know you._ "Max?"

Max smirked at the mention of his name as he holstered his guns and tore the modulator from his throat. "Oh, so now you recognise me?" he grinned, his British accent resounding more. "C'mon tell me, what was it? It was my eyes, wasn't it? Maybe my sexy voice, always pleasing the ladies." Max was a young Japanese man with light olive skin and selective heterochromia; a section of his right eye was amber while the rest watery blue-green. The last time she remembered seeing him, he didn't dye his hair silver, and he definitely didn't have a mohawk that actually suited him well.

"Your eyes…"

"Hypnotising right? I mean, I find you looking more beautiful than ever, and I dyed my hair. Yeah, that's new."

"How did you...I thought…"

He chuckled, "So you are curious? Always were, Al. Don't worry though, I promise with my left arm that I'll tell you everything you want to know, but only on the condition that you take down Syndicate. They don't just have a bounty on your head, but a bounty on your boyfriend's too."

Alias looked away when he said that. "He's...not my boyfriend."

"If it helps you sleep at night. As I was saying, you help me and I'll help you. I give you intel about those pricks, you cross them out of our black book. For good this time, hearing them pop back on grid is worse than death. And we both know that."

"...we'll talk but not here. I'll deal with Grayson first. Considering you pretty much stalked me, you know where to find me."

"It's not stalking if you know now."

"Stalking terribly then." With that, the Meta Mercenary continued on her way out of the HQ, so many questions lingering in her mind and not enough people to answer them. But not knowing meant Jason could be killed. She tapped the button to hail the elevator and a cold pout suddenly decorated her lips; she'll let the only friend she thought she lost talk, if it meant making sure she could take Syndicate out permanently.

 _A: Eventually we did talk. But it wasn't what I was expecting._

 _I'm a Meta-Human. That's the most obvious statement. But I was reformed by Syndicate after learning of my power froze my lungs beyond repair. They took me in and shaped me into a mercenary, a conditioned killing machine with a protocol that allowed me to kill whatever, whenever, prior my master's orders. I was a weapon, something valuable to Syndicate._

 _Until they broke me. I didn't kill my target because they saved my life before. So Syndicate punished me, pushed me towards the brink of insanity but my mentality didn't snap under the force. My powers did, killing me from the inside out and I was declared dead. Even with those facts on the table, I'm here in Gotham being a mercenary with a certain target to eliminate. Which begs the question._

 _Who ordered me to kill the Arkham Knight? Why didn't I do it? Moreover, who brought me back from the dead?_

"So...you're not actually a human. Like at all?" Grayson asked her as they traversed the rooftops of Miagami Island with him in the lead and the Meta a mere step behind. After a week he had fully recovered and, with a bit more time to spare, she told him everything about her on a cup of coffee. Still, it doesn't seem he can get over it.

"Of course I am. Just a really hyped-up-on-superhuman-juice type'a human."

"You don't seem…I don't know."

"No. I know what you mean."

"I mean, aside from being a mercenary, you're so...nice. No, not nice. Thoughtful. You don't only think about yourself. As someone who's used to being alone, you don't mind company. Ah, no offence."

"None taken. But what's life like if you live it alone?"

"Why don't you ask Bruce that?" They both shared chuckles; it was nice, not having to remember Bruce in such a bad light and instead relish the moment when he did care, when he did fight for others, when he did risk his life. "Here." Nightwing flipped forward and past the building's edge whilst Alias created a glacier to launch her higher into the air, both performing some sort of acrobatic feat before they landed on one knee. Grand Avenue, where it all started. It took a small group of followers, a diligent police officer and a small vial of the fear toxin to trigger the explosion of something more. This district of Gotham was declared by the public as a no-go zone so even when the events of Halloween rolled over, ground zero was left untouched. Alias slowed down at an abandoned police car when the thought of her being a part of the destructive terror creeped back into her mind, and her hand slid across the vehicle's frame.

"Dick, I..." she briefly closed her eyes and Grayson turned back to face the mercenary. She doesn't usually call him by his first name, she rarely did, but he noticed the sorrowful frown on her face. "I never wanted to be bad, you know. I never wanted to kill, or fight. I was planning to leave the defending to Bruce."

"Huh, didn't we all?" he asked, a relaxed hand to his hip.

"But I used him as an excuse for what happened to me. I used him because...he was there. Back at the Asylum, he was there. In my memories, anyway. But...now that I know that the memories that I have aren't even true, I just want to say thank you to him. For not giving up on me."

"Hey. Don't beat yourself up for something you couldn't control. We all have demons. Some we can fight, others have been there since time. We just...need to learn how to handle our demons to overcome them."

"He managed to see that there is good in my heart, good that was hidden by revenge and hatred that wasn't even supposed to be there." She had turned around and sat on the bonnet of the wrecked car with Nightwing following after her. "I've killed a lot of people, I've got their blood on my hands, and he still saw the good in me. In a way, I guess you can say he saved me."

"Yeah, he does that."

"His words were annoyingly true, and it pissed me off."

"He does that too. Wait, I just realised we're having a heart-to-heart here."

"Because I wanted to tell you how sorry I am about my first impressions. I never would've thought destiny would lead us here, from fighting to laughing and chatting the night away."

"Blake, you've said sorry so many times, I could be rich."

"But I feel bad about it. I've never befriended a...potential target."

"Well, in my defence, I am pretty flexible." She had to laugh.

"And I wanted to say that...even though it's only been several months, I do think of you as a close friend. Probably one of few. I don't have many friends. Not that it matters, but having someone else to emotionally depend on is better than I thought." She brought her legs up to hug her knees as she hid her face out of embarrassment and Grayson smiled softly at her. He knew her life wasn't easy, and didn't blame her for her tainted past. She lived someone else's life and memories, and he would probably be very confused and conflicted if he was in her shoes. But then again, this was Alias, a Meta Mercenary, trained in all fields. He wouldn't be surprised if she was suppressing some thoughts and emotions, but he was glad to know that she did come to him for advice and help.

"Well, as much as I wanna savour this moment," he spoke up as the silence stretched on, minus the car's distorted sirens, and hopped off the car to offer Alias his hand. "You do have somewhere to go. Right?"

"You say it as if I'm going across the world. I just...wanted to stay a while longer before I say goodbye." She kindly took his hand and slid off the bonnet, quickly dusted herself off and led the way towards the diner across the street. "I am going to miss you, just going to make that clear."

"Really? And how much are you gonna miss me?"

"Not that much. I'll definitely miss your witty sense of charm, though."

"Ouch. You're too truthful."

"Maybe, but hurting now is better than hurting later."

"And you're wise." She rolled her eyes as she pushed open the door to the diner, letting Nightwing enter first before shutting the door behind her. After its abandonment, Alias had decided to renovate the place and ensured the originality of the diner. Even Grayson himself had to let out a low whistle. "You've got to be kidding me. You fixed this place up?"

"It wasn't much, actually. Some of the booths I covered, I didn't think I'd be bringing a party in here any time soon. And I got the appliances working. I did just have to plug it in but..."

"Now that you mention it, I've been craving pancakes for while and Lucius has been keeping tabs on what I eat. I don't think I'm supposed to have salad four days in a row."

She giggled as she sat in a vacant booth, crossing her legs under the table and rested her chin on her backhand. "Mine with strawberries and blueberries, if you don't mind." He flashed her a wink before hopping over the counter and disappearing into the kitchen, and she let out a content exhale as she combed through her hair and flicked her pink locks off one ear The Meta knew he was coming and didn't flinch when his helmet was dropped on her table 5 minutes later, but was even more surprised when Nightwing didn't investigate the noise. Probably too busy finding more food.

"You didn't tell me you were bringing Dick with you," Jason told her as he sat down opposite her, with a sort of venom to his tone as if he wanted to spit out his words. Considering he took off his helmet must be a sign that he knew what she did to him.

"I didn't think I needed to. Besides, you two need to talk."

He glared out the window. "I've got nothing to say to him."

"I didn't say spill out your heart to him. Just...talk."

"Fine."

"That's all I ask. Grayson, a beer would be nice."

"I didn't know you drink, Blake," echoed Nightwing's voice from the kitchen.

"I don't. Well, not officially." Her eyes rested on Jason again. "Where did you leap off to?"

"I had business to attend to. Nothing special."

"And what sort of business did you attend to?"

"Business."

"You mean going after Sionis? Ah, that I know. You're getting slightly messier, not like you care."

"I don't."

"Guessed so." The clink of glass brought Jason's attention to the bottle of beer placed in front of him, Grayson's face a mix of concern and reluctance as he passed over Alias's plate of food before sitting down beside her with his own dish. "Thank you."

"...Jason…" It was obvious he was trying to formulate a sentence, words that wouldn't offend or victim-blame. I mean, it's been a couple years since they last saw each other, as close as brotherly bonds can get. Rivalry did come alongside it, but in the end they would get things done. As a team. "Glad to see you again." Dick smiled, and Alias had to pause in the middle of eating a strawberry to glance at Jason's reaction.

What was about to transpire in the next 10 minutes would determine if they were willing to accept each other...


	17. Game

...and accept each other they did not. Alias sighed.

She had no idea of the circumstances that would have arisen, nor did she think of the outcomes. Okay, yes, she's a Meta Mercenary, and would be cunning enough to see this happen. But no, she had this slither of hope that everything would settle, secrets wouldn't have to be hidden anymore. That flitting slither had now vanished, all because Jason couldn't appreciate Grayson's acceptance of him. She gave them 10 minutes, 10 minutes to resolve their problems.

And they're still on the floor, wrestling.

Alias took her almost-finished plate in one hand and a fork in the other before sliding out of the booth and stopping short of the fighting two. "Jason, Dick, stop. Now." Her occupied hand waved the fork in the air and a faint violet golem shimmered into reality next to her, moving at an unnaturally fast speed and managed to get the Red Hood out from the complicated grapple in seconds. It had hooked its arms under his underarms and interlinked its fingers behind his head, and barely had to fight against his struggles of escape. "I've never had to summon a golem before, so class yourself as special. Still, I'm disappointed. As for you, Grayson, you're just as bad as him." Dick stayed silent as he got himself off the floor and dusted himself off, his cheeks red but not bruised. Jason did throw a couple shots that looked like it really hurt, but thankfully his armour had improved from the last time him and Alias were out. His ribs would've definitely caved in on him.

"You two were supposed to work things out. Jason, he's trying to help you. Knowing what happened, you should respect the fact that he cares. Regardless of what happens, you two should be close. You two weren't given the name Robin for no reason. Grayson, you'll only cause more problems if you try and bring him back home. You don't think he's gone through enough? His morals are stained and we both can't change that. You know that, I know that. Jason was used against his will, and yet there's this little spark in him somewhere that acknowledges that it wasn't Bruce's fault. He had all the chances in the world to kill him, but he needed reassurance. But right now, you two have to realise that people don't change. It's their history that does." Dick lowered his gaze as he crossed his arms, Jason's struggles lessening in frequency as her words clung to their minds. She was right, and that's what sent a wave of regret crashing into the both of them. She sighed again and gently stabbed the fork into a strawberry before offering it to Dick.

"No, I'm...I'm good."

"Your loss. Here." She moved the fork to Jason's lips and, with the close proximity of the fruit, there was no way he could decline now that he witnessed just a peek at how angry she could get. And the fact that the golem was at least several inches taller than him and swept him off the floor. He narrowed his eyes before letting her feed him the strawberry, and chewed it slowly. "Oh, before I forget." Alias set her plate down and removed her comm device from her thigh belt, and handed it to Nightwing.

"Wait. Aren't you gonna need this?"

"Apparently, no. I'm getting my old outfit with my own comm but you can contact Rex with it. He's a Meta so he'll arrive almost immediately. He's really nice and very skilled, so if you need more muscle he's your go-to guy."

"You sure he's a Meta and not, like, some guy posing as a Meta?"

"Last time I checked, I didn't think humans could teleport unless you guys figured it out already." She peered behind her. "Golem, you...can let go of him now. I think he's calmed down." The golem nodded its sluggish head and carefully put Jason down, who shrugged on his jacket and fixed his hair. With that obvious pout, she'd leave him be for now. She wasn't ready for a lecture. "And I got someone coming over here to fill us in about our new enemy."

"Someone you can trust?"

"With my life."

"So, who is he?" Jason piped up this time, a scowl still worn on his face. Guess he wasn't over it.

Alias made a face, "He's...Syndicate."

"That's ex-Syndicate to you," a voice interrupted their conversation and all three heads turned towards the source, Max standing by the door with his metal hand moving the duffel bag off his shoulder and the other sheathing his firearm. "I mean technically, but I'm not those pricks chasing Metas all over the city. I'm just here because Al's here." Then he pointed a lazy finger, "What's with the golem? Someone cast a spell in here?"

"Long story."

"Tell me later. So, this is Grayson and Todd. They look hotter up close. You were always a magnet to the hot ones for some reason." At the mention of his name Nightwing fell to the defensive but Jason lifted an impressed brow.

"How does he know?"

"He knows Jason too, calm down." Alias reassured the gymnast.

"But how?"

"The walls have ears, y'know," Max responded as he walked past them and took his place in their booth, admiring Red Hood's visor. "Don't worry, I won't tell."

"Huh, you better not."

"Al, this is yours." He dropped the bag onto the table next to the helmet and Alias hummed as she walked up to it and unzipped it to reveal its contents, almost instantly taking out the beige jacket. "Yeah, the Alias then really liked wearing jackets. I'm guessing for dramatic effect? Still, you could never beat an original."

"At least some parts of me haven't changed. I'll go put this on." There was silence once Alias left, Max and Jason sitting opposite each other while Grayson sat cross-legged on the counter eyeing the man in blue. It wasn't long until Max let out a sound of bored annoyance and slammed his hands on the table just as the Meta Mercenary walked back in, unchanged.

"Al, what's up with your friends? They haven't said a word, or moved...aaaand why aren't you dressed? Your original outfit looks so badass."

Alias pointed at Jason, "He's holding you at gunpoint under the table," then at Grayson, "And he's probably figuring out a way to remove his identity out of your mind. They don't trust you and I don't blame them. Who can you trust in this city? Also the outfit needs altering, it's too small."

"What? Do they think I'm some double spy or something?"

"No," she slid next to Jason in the booth and dropped the bag by her feet. "They're just figuring out how to trust someone who turns up out of the blue saying that I'm someone who shouldn't exist."

Max sighed. "Since you asked me so nicely…" He tilted his head to the right and pulled his scarf down at the same time to reveal the same branding that Alias had on her hip, but Jason's aim didn't waver under the table. "There? See? Syndicate had...have this weird fetish of branding us. Their way to differentiate between the puppets and the puppeteers."

"You seriously think that's gonna cut it?" Nightwing snapped coldly. "A scar, so what? Like you said, everyone in Syndicate has it, but you could be trying to set her up for all we know."

"You guys are so hard to impress…" Max scratched his head. "Fine, want me to prove my sincerity? Want me to prove that I have never, and never will, harm the only person that didn't block me out?" Jason tensed when he said this, albeit not too obviously. Maybe Alias had her ways of protecting people. "I will. Alias's real name is Blakelyn Jordan Mercer, born in Britain, raised in Japan. She didn't know of her powers until she was 17, but it was too late by then. With no control over it, it destroyed her lungs and gave her terminal pneumonia. Her parents sent her back to Syndicate who weren't just an organisation with a sole purpose, but one of the greatest hospitals that they had with the alibi Sinclair Hospital. They changed her respiratory system but they didn't stop there. Now," he chuckled nervously. "Now this is where things start getting messed up. You want me to continue?"

"What kinda sick game is―"

"Keep going." Alias's eyes didn't move off Max when she said this but Jason felt her unease emit off her cold skin. If she really wanted to know he wasn't going to stop her, but he flicked his gun on the table to assure her. She thanked the vigilante with her eyes and glared back at the speaker.

"When they realised exactly what you were, no offence, they made you their own. Killed every single person they thought mattered to you, manipulated your memories and tried to break you. Performed experiments that mostly failed because they didn't understand what stood you out from the other Metas they had. Until they discovered you have a god residing in your body."

Alias hesitated, "A god? You mean Arcadia?"

"H-How do you know that? Not even you knew that…"

"Long story. Sorry, continue."

"...that was when they decided to take you in and shape you into an assassin, shape you into a weapon that they alone could control. By 18, you were already out on the field. Everything was going fine, to their accords, until you didn't manage to take out a target you were assigned. They punished you and…"

"I know the rest." She sighed and sat back in her place, looking to Grayson for something.

"How do you know all this?" He spoke for her and Max smiled.

"That's another story I'll be willing to tell. We have Syndicate to deal with first, and Alias's lost memories. Speaking of memories, what do you remember Al?"

"I can't trust my own memories anymore," she muttered, sliding out of the booth and signalled for the golem that everyone forgot about to carry the duffel bag for her. "I need a location, Max. I don't need to know what they're doing or who's involved. I already know that. Knowing where they are means I can take them out again."

"South Metropolis. One of the Syndicate's lieutenants are actually having a party there, something about legitimate matters. I'll send the deats to Rex, you'll need him."

"Metropolis, really?" Nightwing hopped off the counter. "Of all places, they pick where Superman lives?"

"That's what I thought. Stupid really." The ex-Syndicate shook his head as he also moved out of the booth and pulled his hood back on. "Heard that they've figured out a way to give Rhys your abilities, Al. Might not be experienced but she uses it well. Almost too well. There's a high chance that she, and Taeyeon, might not be there but as of now...I have a hunch that ACE might be turning into a fortress hiding in plain sight. Gotham has been through enough, they won't look towards scarred terrain. They never do."

"And where are you going?" She asked him softly. "Playing two roles again?"

"I promised, remember? I give you intel and leave you to gladly turn Gotham into your game of urban, gritty chess. I've got a life to recover."

"You can't run forever, you know? You can always come back." The Japanese man smirked as he peered at Alias, her face innocent as her words, and winked before walking towards the glass door.

"And I know you'll always let me in. Catch you later, Al." The door chimed as Max departed the cafe and just like that, the sudden swarm of silence choked the room to the point the golem made a noise of confusion as it looked at its master; she responded by glaring up at it and cupped its frozen cheek before peering off her shoulder. The golem had listened to her silent command and vanished in a cloud of frost.

"Jason, let's go."

"Huh, yes ma'am."

"Wait, what about me?" Nightwing protested as his ex-partner took his visor from the table and strolled towards the door, a look of disgust on the former's face. "You forgetting about something, Blake?"

"I need you here working on our case. Max just gave you a heads-up, there is a Meta named Rhys with my abilities killing people off. She's the main suspect of the ice murders. If you find a link as to why, you might be able to take off your suit earlier than we thought."

"I know that but…" he leaned in closer just as Jason left. "Why Jason? You know what he's like, we both do."

"Why? Because I didn't shut him out...as much as you two blatantly hate each other, I'm trying my best to make sure he...make sure he doesn't lose himself again. If you understood what he went through, the least you'd do is try and help him."

"I didn't mean to―"

"Hit a nerve? You didn't, I'm just the intermediate of you and Jason's relationship. You either accept him or help him. You know he won't believe both." They finally made their way out of the diner and Alias was about to meet up with a waiting Jason when Grayson grabbed her hand, a gesture that surprised her more than she thought.

He sighed, "Jason's smart, I'll defeatedly admit, but I can see it in him. How he looks at you, like your sole protector. He won't hurt you and if he does, I'll feel bad for him."

"He won't...hopefully."

"Now go. Don't think of me too much, beautiful."

She chuckled lowly. "I highly doubt that. Stay safe for me, will you?"

"Always." She departed his side with a wink and jogged towards the blaring police car before a glacier shot her upwards, high enough and at a certain angle that she landed on the farthest rooftop by the junction. Before leaving his sight Alias looked back at Nightwing before blowing him a kiss and, as if by magic, he was lightly showered with frozen jasmine petals that made him smile in nostalgia. Alias was a weird one, he thought, a mercenary with the softest of hearts and kindest of spirits. Maybe it was just like she said, about her life. How she wasn't given a chance until it was too late. At least he can do something to help her.

With a lead to follow, he brought up his gauntlet and contacted Oracle. It was gonna be a long night.


	18. Luminous

_**A whole lotta filler in this chapter. If you wanna see Rex talking more and more Jay/Al fluff, read on.**_

* * *

Just as Alias turned around from expressing her timid farewell to Grayson, she immediately frowned as Red Hood was standing parallel to her, arms crossed so tight his she felt his jacket would give way any second. A sigh left her lips as she casually walked up towards him and stopped short, staring into his glassy crimson visor. "Still mad?" No answer; she pouted even more and slid her hands up his arms to his smooth cheeks. "Please don't be mad. I didn't mean you any harm, I thought...I thought that―"

He caught her hands before she could finish and she widened her eyes in surprise when he gently pulled them away. "I know. But some things aren't meant to be, Alias, no matter how much you try and fight it. I appreciate the help but I don't need Grayson when I got you and Rex covering my back."

"Wait. So you're trying to say that we're a...team of some sort? Like your other friends, Princess Koriand'r and Harper?"

"How do you know about them?"

"Rex. He had more a hold of you than I did…one harnesses the power of a star and the other's accuracy is beyond me. He must have amazing sight to never miss his targets."

He sniggered as he placed a hand in his pockets, "Roy's a joke. Guy can't even sit still without saying something stupid and most of the time he's not even trying."

"Yet you speak of him like you miss his stupidity…" She tilted her head, her voice suddenly more sincere and cool that it completely stole Jason's attention. "Why did you leave them behind? Scared to let them see your world?"

"They already know," he spoke dejectedly. "And I'm not finished here in Gotham. This was where I was born, where I was brought up. As much as I really hate this place, there's still something about it that I can't abandon."

"Your history," she answered for him. "It's not something that you can abandon, it's something that won't let you go. It sticks to you like another layer of skin, always there protecting you from future mistakes. I understand it was hard facing Grayson like that, I understand your anger and frustration, but like I said; a ripple in one's history can leave an impact in their world."

"Did you seriously go all philosophical on me?"

"I...think I did." She shook her head. "Sorry about that. Sometimes I don't realise what an idiot I sound like." As she flashed him a coy smile the air around them shuddered upon Rex's arrival, the blonde man looking at Alias then at Red Hood and back at Alias again, and wondered why they were standing so close.

"Alias, your friend Max told me everything. Didn't realise he was a Meta until he told me to give you this." He stepped towards her and cupped her cheek, her face twisting gently as memories exploded within her mind; a name, a place, an objective. "And, no, it's not on any map. It actually exists between realities."

"Yukine. The City of Light, my memories...why is Max leading me here?"

"He said that you can find your own life in there. You can't get lost, there's a gate when you get there." He crossed his arms as he glared down Red Hood, "And why the hell is he here?"

She sighed, "Jason, just tell him. I feel bad enough as it is."

"Talk about the element of surprise...Rex, it's me."

"I know exactly who you are, I'm just pissed off at the fact that you couldn't even tell us anything." Alias looked at Rex in surprise as the words were fuelled with a bitterness enough to even stab her heart. She didn't know that Rex was this affected by Jason leaving. "You just go and leave us, leave everything behind like that? Did you even feel any sort of regret or guilt when you vanished like that? Breaker, he...he barely survived and saving him almost killed Alias. You didn't know that, did you?"

Jason shifted his gaze towards Alias, whose eyes were already cast down. "She didn't tell me…"

"Because you weren't there." The Meta Mercenary placed a hand on Rex's chest as a sign to calm down and he did without hesitation, letting out a breath to ease away his anger, and her cloudy eyes found his glassy visor again.

"What happened to Breaker was something I could solve and didn't need the attention of you, Jason. I'm fine, I'm well and I want to get this over with."

"What happened to him?"

She hesitated, "He was affected by the fear toxin because he was trying to look for you, that's what happened. I healed him but rather reverse the damage it mirrored onto me. I could see his fears, feel it cutting away at my life. If it wasn't for Rex I...I would've lost myself." Red Hood looked down as he acknowledged her sacrifice and how much he felt sorry; she didn't want him to say it. His sorrys flooded out of him in the recording he sent her. She understood the intention in his body language. "It was a while ago, so there's no point worrying about something that's already written in time."

"I'm the one who's supposed to be protecting you, Alias," he suddenly said. "Of course I have every right to be worried...I could've lost you."

"The same can be said about you," she softly gestured her head. "But here we both are, alive and fighting. Let's hope that the next time something happens, we're actually aware of it...Rex, what are you doing?" Rex stopped in the motion of unsheathing his energy sword and chuckled softly at the bewilderment across Alias's face. She always made such strange, cute faces that he had to laugh.

"Oh, I never got the chance to tell you. My sword isn't just an energy sword. Blue is for using ionic matter," then he pressed a mechanism on the hilt of his blade and the hue changed colour, "And white is for cutting through realities. I've got a pretty awesome sword, I just never used it because cutting time and space while fighting is very dangerous, don't even think about thinking about doing something like that."

"How do you know where the City of Light is? Wouldn't your sword just blindly cut through?"

"Well said. Thankfully, and somehow, that man Max told me about placed a psychic anchor on me, so it doesn't matter where I cut. I open a rift, and boom, straight path to the City of Light. You're welcome."

She smiled, "You're an absolute dream."

"I wish to be nothing more." He spun his wrist before quickly slicing the air and the rip in time and space released gusts of summery winds and a light hue that illuminated its portal. "According to the space there, you should be out fairly quickly. Now go, I'll be here if you need me."

"I think Grayson might need you more, that's if he decided to contact you. He could use the help."

"Then I'll go meet him halfway. Good luck out there." With a parting wink Alias followed Red Hood and leapt into the rift after him, the portal shutting just after she jumped in. It closed with a swirly whump, the last gust blowing his hair back. "Get back safe, Blake."

Alias was left disoriented at the drastic shift in space and gravity so it took her a while to realise that she was descending fast and twirled her body in the air. She collected the cold she could reach before suddenly flipping forwards and landing on a icy platform she created. The platform had splintered slightly on impact, absorbing all those G's she was carrying but she didn't stay too long as she leapt to another. "Jason. Here." She summoned Jason's own descending platforms and he utilised them with thanks as he gave her a thumbs up before displaying his own acrobatic feats. As they fell through the clouds, the environment was more distinct with snow stretching into the horizon and jagged, crystal pillars leading to a silver, embroidered gate. Although it was snowing lightly and the sun burned against the terrain, the temperature never dropped past 17.46℃.

Eventually she joined their two platforms into one and both finally landed on one knee, with Alias up and fixing her hair and Red Hood bringing out a gun for insurance. "This must be it." She told him as they walked along the pearly-stoned pathway. "The City of Light."

"Looks like a tundra with decoration for extra points.

 _A: Really?_

 _RH: Really._

"And it's warm. How deceiving."

"Yeah it's...why is your gun out?"

"In case intel was wrong and I get to shoot something."

"We got intel from Max, and I know for a fact that he wouldn't betray me on his life. We're in the City of Light, that would be evidence enough."

"Okay then. Just in case otherwise."

"Just in case otherwise? You're dealing with Metas here, not humans."

"Probably. Still doesn't mean I can't shoot them." Alias rolled her eyes as they stopped before the entrance, both of them glancing up at the tall barricade before bringing their sights back onto the reinforced gate. "So...is there some sort of special passcode? Something cliche like abracadabra, shazam, hocus pocus?"

"There's no passcode."

"Can I shoot it?"

"No."

"So, what, we wait for someone to open the door?"

"No. We wait for it to open. It's alive, and assessing us. Don't you see the silver constantly curling and glowing? I suggest you put your gun away before it freezes your brain in less time you raise your iron sight." Jason hesitated for a second and scowled under his visor as he tucked his firearm away and crossed his arms, letting out a breath of mild frustration as moments passed. Then it startled him.

"Blakelyn Mercer," it spoke with no mouth, with its deep, booming voice shaking the snowy ground underneath their feet. "Jason Todd. The City of Light have been expecting you. Please, come in." A gentle mechanical click sounded through the air and the solid gates made a soft whining sound as it opened without command, their arms coming up to protect their eyes from such a blinding view. But it only lasted a moment as their eyes adjusted to the change of lighting and Jason gestured for Alias to enter first, with a kind nod as appreciation and sauntered through.

It was completely different inside as it looked they they pulled out someone's dream city and smacked it into this vacant space. It was simply breathtaking; the land stretched into fields of clear waters with the sky appearing like the night sky with its beautiful stars and shooting comets that illuminated the water with glitters of silver and gold. Alias moved first, glaring at the water under their feet and wondered why they weren't falling through the surface. Jason stayed behind her and admired the scenery; what'd it take for someone to build the world's everlasting dream in this place? Nevertheless, he did feel slightly more content in here than outside; it kept deceiving his brain about the temperature of the climate and was incredibly tempted to take his helmet off. Wasn't like he could hide his identity since a fucking door knew who he was.

"You feel it too, right?" She asked him. "My memories...my past...it's gone. I can't remember Syndicate, or destroying them. Not how I escaped, not how I got there. Not my family. It's all gone."

"Yeah, no, I feel it."

"It's almost as if...the sky is revealing the truth. My memories aren't real, so now I can't remember. This place, it's...entrancing."

"I'm guessing not in a good way. I hope your friend was true to his word. Because if he did lie―"

"I'll kill him." Jason glared at her with his glassy facade, able to hear her killing intent in her subtle tone. "It's that simple. Nothing personal." What made it worse was that he knew she was telling the truth. "Nevertheless, it's...it's beautiful…" She trailed off, spinning on her toes to admire a certain shooting star.

"I wouldn't be surprised," a voice replied and only when she focused her attention on it she widened her eyes, a memory she's never lived suddenly coming to life. Dark blue hair that tousled down his back, amber eyes, a floral kimono, a devilishly handsome smile. He was sitting cross-legged on the surface of the water, with different sized orbs floating around him.

"And you must be Yukine," Alias started as she moved elegantly towards him to greet the man and noticed a woman was standing beside him, a cheery smile on her face. She had rosy cheeks, short dark hair and bright, lime eyes, with a flowing dress and a floral scarf around her shoulders.

Yukine smiled. "And you must be the lost Meta, Blakelyn. I've heard stories of your mercenary background and I'm glad you've come to shed light on your past...oh, and this must be Jason Todd."

"Sounds like you don't like me already," Jason rose a brow underneath his mask as he stood beside Alias.

"The last time a...mortal was here, they were very close to wiping out this precious, sacred land."

"But he's with me, Yukine," Alias told him. "In fact I worked with him. He's had many opportunities to kill me, but in the end he doesn't. Don't compare him to the guys that have come in here."

"Overperception can save you, my dear―"

"But he isn't anyone. Sure he's killed before, stolen goods, gotten himself into trouble. But he's saved the only person that can help you. So you either take us, or we both go." Jason caught a side-glance of the meta's assertive tone and composure that he had to hold in a 'damn' just in case she ended up slapping him or something. Alias was a lot more than charm, that he was definitely certain about. Yukine sighed before adjusting his kimono and signalled to the woman. "So, I've been sent here to retrieve my memories that...somehow managed to be placed into your hands, why?"

"The memories of Blakelyn Mercer are kept in my possession, for I am the Memorial Keeper of this world."

"But why you?"

"I was a Syndicate Lieutenant, just like Rhys Sinclair currently is, and had control over everyone's memories, even Taeyeon's. When I heard of your death however, and what happened to lead to your death, I left and treasured your memories. Some are...hard to relive but others, others are beautiful. This place, it's very fragile and vulnerable to spatial/temporal disruptions every time the gate is opened and closed."

That figures. "So you're here to make sure the memories are okay when it happens, and also to protect it."

"And every time it's opened, it changes location. You were extremely lucky its last location was Gotham City. But to regain your memories, please discard of your clothing. Unless you have a spare."

"I'm going in the water under us, aren't I?" She questioned as she began stripping off her garments, starting with the two-tail jacket, and Yukine smiled at her answer.

"How did you know?"

"Lucky guess." Once Alias had only her lingerie on, the woman by Yukine's side holding her clothes, the seated man stood up and walked until he stood in front of the Meta and tapped her shoulders. She hissed as ink came to life under her skin, burning white-hot as it stretched below her collarbone and spanned across her right shoulder down to her bicep. "Oh, is there a way to fix me?"

"Fix you?" Yukine echoed in confusion.

"I breathe through my hair. Until that's fixed, I'm considering myself defected."

"The water will revert you back to how you're supposed to be. Including your alternate respiratory system. Jason, would you mind stepping back please?" Jason, who was still pretty annoyed by the man's first impressions, followed his orders anyway and stepped back a couple times and crossed his arms. He knew if he tried to stop this, Alias would've persuaded him otherwise. Her words did that a lot. Yukine nodded thankfully and looked back into Alias's eyes. "Try not to breathe."

Before she could say anything she had broken through the surface of the water, the splash hitting Yukine's kimono but not soaking it. Just as she was fully submerged a number of floating orbs sank underneath the water and formed a circle around her aura. "So tell me, old man," Jason started as he watched her relax against the mild currents and saw the mist rise against her face. "Why is it that you still have her memories, and don't give me that bullshit."

"Because I felt as if her death was in vain, to prove a point to the rest of us. I had stored her memories in these orbs after Max told me what she was alive. He wanted to protect her, and made me promise to give it to her if she ever made it to this place." Then he smiled. "She trained you didn't she? I can smell her on you. I apologize for my hostility towards you, Jason. It's just that Kyle and I have bad experiences of mortals being here." Kyle bowed her head in response of her name being mentioned.

"...it's fine. But the water...it isn't regular water. If that was the case, you should be wet."

"Observant. No, it's infused with my own abilities to manipulate spatial and temporal spaces as well as Kyle's abilities to amplify whoever is in the space I manipulate. Where Blake is, space and time flows at a completely different level to here. To be exact, a minute in the City of Light equals a day in those waters but a day in reality equals a month in here. I guessed you didn't want to waste time while you have an organisation to destroy."

Alias shot out of water at near-lightning speed and landed just as fast, bringing a shockwave that blew Kyle's dress and Yukine's hair back. As she landed facing him Jason only stared as she rose up from one knee, not even drenched from floating in a liquid, and noticed her chest rise and fall in respiration. She was breathing, not through her hair but through her lungs. "Alias?"

She lifted her head to look at him, her cloudy lilac eyes burning alongside the hazy mist, and the tattoos that were burned onto her skin took the appearance of curling ink across her collarbone and bicep. Her expression seemed lost until her sights fell on him, and tried for a smile as she stepped towards him. "Ja-son…" she whispered and her legs buckled from underneath her, the masked man catching her before she fell and transferred her into the bridal carry.

"It'll take some time for her body to adjust to her physiological and cognitive changes," Kyle told him, her voice as fragile as the memories in this world. She drifted towards the couple and placed a palm on Alias's forehead. "She thinks highly of you, Jason. Her life had been a script, and for someone like you to break her out of it...it means a lot knowing that she isn't alone in this fight. That's why you're here. I've attuned your tattoos to be in sync with hers. Nothing too burdensome."

"I've never seen Alias as a burden," Jason answered back. "She...she means alot to me too. I don't think she realises that...and how did you manage to do that?"

"Do...oh." Kyle grinned as she moved her hand away. "I can amplify anyone in this space thanks to master, but that also includes complete identification of the person being enhanced; you couldn't hide those marks if you tried. And, well...I am one of Ducra's disciples. It would be shameful if she knew I used my powers for granted." Another person given another chance at survival. Ducra really was a humble woman.

"She'd be proud of you."

"Thank you, Jason."

"Since it did cause you some trouble getting here," Yukine joined in. "I'll send you to your desired location. If you need us, Blake will know how to contact us. Good luck." Kyle waved as they eventually vanished in a luminous pop and peered at her teacher, who stood up from his place. "The future I see is dark and full of uncertainty, but it's in the future they save everything. I pray the light will guide their way."

"I have faith in them, master. Both of them. A Meta Mercenary and an exceptional student of Ducra. They may be at either ends of the continuum but their destinies intertwine. I can feel it."

"His visor."

"Hm?"

"He didn't take it off. Why?" Kyle tried to hide her smile as she circled behind Yukine. The skies above was reflected on the waters and she had taken a memorial orb from his aura, before raising her hand and letting it float upwards.

"There are just things that were meant to be. Something not even I can understand. But all I know, is that it's beautiful."


	19. Suit

_A: That City of Light, it...was uncomfortable. It felt like the air could choke me to death._

 _RH: Everything that made us who we are was laid bare for us to experience all over again..._

 _A: Anything that was placed in our subconscious to protect us, gone. I guess now we know why it's called the City of Light._

Jason fidgeted a bit as he adjusted Alias's head on his shoulder, who had woken up from her 53-hour slumber and ended up sitting on the cushioned loveseat on the patio of a penthouse in South Metropolis. The penthouse was slightly extravagant to be called a safe pad but extravagant were most buildings in the city: raised patio with dark wooden flooring, loveseats and an l-section couch that surrounded an elongated fireplace and a divider that doubled as a waterfall. He could tell she was feeling slightly better due to the soft smile on her face, but her brows would furrow at times so he wasn't exactly sure. Nevertheless, he sighed and finally decided to take his helmet off, the air decompressing slowly to allow easy removal. "Don't get used to this," he lowly commented and placed it in his lap, his hand reaching up to fix his hair. "What was it with that place? First a gate knows who you are, and as soon as you step in you feel as if you committed a fucking crime. All your memories etched into your psyche just as vivid as the last...I remembered my own death."

Alias sat up from his shoulder and turned her body to face him, still dazed from what happened and instead rested her cheek against his arm that was propped up on the backrest. "You say it as if you let it happen. You had no control over those events but...I understand. Of course, the Knight I knew definitely would've killed me for saying that. The Jason that's here with me, who went with me to a city that continuously moved through time and space and letting me be this close enough to feel his body heat, is someone willing enough to gain absolution. And considering your history, it has to be one of the bravest things you've ever done." Jason attempted to retain his straight face but burst into small chuckles, diverting his gaze towards the pink-haired woman.

"You speak a lot when you wanna," he informed her and she shrugged.

"One of the things you hate about me," she chuckled with him and slowly reached up to caress his cheek. The scar that was once there in the mark of the initial of the man that destroyed everything in Jason's life was replaced with a fresh layer of his unusually soft skin. He must've shaved. "It's...it's healed completely. How does it feel? C'mon, tell me."

 _RH: I wanted to be honest. To the frozen maiden who always had my back and stayed on my side since day one. Who doesn't mind flirting but blushes like crazy at intimate contact. That could become your closest friend or living nightmare in seconds, but you never knew which. But I couldn't say thank you to her. Not yet._

"Like I've gotten some of my wasted time back…"

"Well...it's a start. I don't expect an immediate thanks but...I'll be waiting on it." She lifted her head off his arm and dropped her hand from his face to stretch her upper body. "It feels better having some of memories back, but now I know why they wiped them."

"What did you find?" he asked as he reached in his jacket pockets, and brought out a box of cigarettes on one hand and a lighter in the other.

"I found it...my uprising. How I found my powers...how Syndicate decided to become more than a renowned hospital, even the torture I had to take. I can still feel his hands, the way it moved over my skin and burned my nerves." She changed position once again and draped her legs on his. Her face was more resentful, in fact he's never seen her look so...hopeless. "Syndicate shaped me into a mercenary because I had no other reason to live. I was on the brink of death anyway. They wanted to dull my emotions by killing my friends, my family and it pretty much drove me psychotic. Then they conditioned me, and I was their first weapon."

"What do you mean?"

"I was their first Meta Mercenary. They trained me in everything there was to know, but one day I didn't follow orders and they pushed me to the edge of my powers and...even while we're talking, I can feel my own death…" Alias fidgeted when she said this. "To be forced into a life you didn't even accept is just...I can't explain it. It's as if everything I was supposed to live for left behind nothing but an empty purpose."

"...I'm sorry."

"You have nothing to apologise for, Jason. What happened is marked in my history and now I have the means to change my future, our future. With my false memories gone, I can focus on our target...I guess Syndicate really are tenacious..."

"The targets are Syndicate goons, right?"

"Yeah, all of which belong to Sinclair. But Rhys has lieutenants of her own, and one of them is here, in Metropolis. Something about a party..."

He moved the cigarette from his lips to make an annoyed face whilst letting the smoke seep through his slack jaw. "So I have to dress up to kill somebody?"

"You act as if you don't ever dress up to kill somebody."

"Touche."

 _A: I couldn't tell him what I found amongst my memories, of his future, in case doing so ignited a flame I wouldn't be able to extinguish. Dying a second time…? This world was cruel. God himself would help me set the skies alight just to keep Jason alive._

 _I won't let that happen. Not while I'm here._

"Is it alright if I stay with you a little longer? It's just your heat signature...it's comforting." Jason didn't answer her for a moment and instead opened his arms a bit, but she took it as an invitation and snuggled up close to him. Her hand was stroking his abdomen and lingered on a certain part of skin near his hip bone. "Can I ask you something?"

"Of course you can."

"You left...why?"

"...I left because I needed to clear my head."

 _RH: I left because I didn't want to hurt you._

"That sounds like a general answer."

"It's the best I can give you." The Meta Mercenary lifted her head so that her face was inches away from Jason's, and silently admired the shade of his heterochromatic eyes. Blue, an entrancing blue, a mesmerising blue. Green, a crystal green, a soft green. They were beautiful.

 _A: He was beautiful. Even when I was gazing in his eyes, so full of compassion and trust…I knew he was still hiding something from me._

"You were afraid that I wouldn't be there for you...weren't you? The same way I was afraid that I'd be alone again. That's why...that's why you kissed me."

"Don't jump to conclusions so quickly. A kiss can mean many things."

"Not the kiss you gave me. It was affectionate, warm...you wanted to make sure that I wasn't going to push you away."

"Sounds like you're complaining." Alias let out a short exhale through her nose and smiled softly, let her hand drift up his torso and it took Jason a moment to realise what she was about to do. A smirk crept onto his face as she moved the cigarette from his lips and leaned forward to kiss him softly, nothing but the distant blaring of the city sounds heard by ears cut off from reality. But it only lasted for a short while, and she pulled back with a deep blush adorning her freckled cheeks.

"Am I complaining now?" She asked him casually before getting out of the loveseat and sauntered into the penthouse, his eyes watching her play with her pink hair as she disappeared into the interior. He smiled to himself as he took that last puff and burnt out the cigarette on the ashtray, and pulled himself off the loveseat whilst remembering to take his helmet inside with him.

 _RH: Alias really can be full of surprises. Not that I can talk._

As the absence of light began to stretch across the sky, they spent the next couple hours relaxing, freshening up and getting ready for the ball in the south of Metropolis. Alias told him that she had their targets completely etched into her memories, all the sub-lieutenants spread out across Gotham, Arkham and Metropolis; this was over speakerphone as the Meta had her own 'safe pad' here and didn't want Jason to see what she was wearing. Mostly the second reason. She told him that there were two lieutenants with unmistakable power and shouldn't be taken lightly, whilst another two have been given some sort of countermeasure against her own abilities. Their leader, sorry, leaders haven't been found by neither Rex or Max but Alias informed Jason that she can feel them, wherever they were, just waiting for the last piece to be slotted; hiding in plain sight, one would say. And when the discussion was over, Rex arrived with his impeccable timing playing the role of hot chauffeur for Jason. Alias was already there for reconnaissance and to look pretty doing it.

"What is she wearing?" Jason finally asked with a baffled expression as he fidgeted with his bow tie, passing through the streets of Metropolis in the back of a matte vehicle. His ensemble was a dark shade of grey with a silk-like finish, single breasted blazer and peaked lapels. This detail, along with the dual vents and three-button cuffs, gave the garment away as bespoke. The shirt was an icy white, with a black wintery gradient that spanned the lower torso and sleeves and bow tie white with a dark knot. It was sleek and fitted his toned figure perfectly, topping off the outfit with a pair of glasses and Oxfords Alias left behind for him. A gift for a gift he presumed.

"That's surprising," Rex chuckled and gently turned the steering wheel. "Alias actually made me refrain from mentioning her attire. But if you want an opinion, she looks incredibly stunning."

"I'm expecting a fight, and she's gonna fight in a dress and heels―wait, why am I surprised?" His eyes fell onto a small pink box on the adjacent seat. "The box, what's in it?"

"An earpiece connected to Alias's comms. She's been quiet since she arrived but I guess she's mingling with the other guests to maintain her cover. Speaking about cover...you could've told me, boss." Jason peered at the rear view mirror to catch a glance of Rex and fixed his blazer jacket.

"I could've, but you wanted to kill me remember?"

"Because I was upset. And besides, when I tried to look into your head there were psychic barriers."

"...look into my head?"

"I'm not just limited to the capabilities you know. I'm a telepathic, Alias managed to figure it out first-time I used it on her. I kinda used my silence as an advantage. And no, I wasn't entirely mad that you disappeared and I'm still not. I understand why you did but Alias, on the other hand...she wouldn't stop thinking about you."

"That's when she met Dick's real self."

"Well, sorta. Actually, they met during Halloween. They didn't get off on the right foot, you would know. But she really does enjoy his presence. You could say they're―"

"Best friends."

"Aha, I wouldn't go too far, boss. It's only been several months, though their chemistry is impressive."

"I'm not your boss, Rex. You're your own man, I don't control the life you live. Then again, I don't deserve to be."

"You say that and yet people tend to follow you. You may not think you're a leader, but there isn't anybody else I would follow if my life depended on it. I don't care if you're the Arkham Knight or the Red Hood, as long as Jason Todd doesn't change then I think I'll stick to calling you boss."

 _RH: Rex. A man whose voice had been stolen from him by his previous leader yet returned to him by someone just as tortured as him. A man of integrity, modesty and determination. Annoyingly nice, annoyingly handsome too. Alias really does admire this man, and I can see why._

"Whatever helps you sleep at night." He felt the vehicle slow to a stop and took the time to take the earpiece from the pink box, the door to his right opening just as he slotted it in his ear and gave Rex a nod when he climbed out.

"Have fun," the Meta teased him as he shut the door behind the vigilante and Jason smirked for a moment before he welcomed himself into the hall. Light security outside, hasn't been a hassle, just a metal detector and an irritating guard that took every fibre of his being to not shut him up.

A simple walk through a well-decorated hallway and his senses were exposed to more. He strolled to the balcony and took in the new environment, a grand chandelier in the centre of the ceiling and engraved pillars at the four corners of the room. People laughed, socialised and drank in small groups while live music became the ambience of the event, buffet tables placed around the perimeter. Several exit routes, guards that walked around with a red band around their left bicep. No, not just the bands. Tattoos on their neck, some sort of mercenary organisation. And wore shades, indoors too.

"I was wondering if you couldn't get any more attractive," a voice cooed from behind him and turned to find Alias with a glass of bubbling champagne in one hand and Jason let out a sound of awe. Sure, he's seen her in her fair share of dresses but this one, this one was different. It was breathtaking, a wine-coloured fitted dress that fell to the floor with dark feathers that decorated her arms, torso and neck and a slit that started at her thigh; if he had seen her from afar, he would've thought they were embellished onto her skin rather than the translucent mesh. Her hair was given a vintage edge that brought out her facial features, the curls falling just on her shoulder with one side slicked and pinned in place. "I guess I was wrong. I knew the glasses would complete the outfit. Like Clark Kent's hot distant brother."

 _RH: She looked...like Blakelyn._

"He was right. You do look stunning."

"Well, I never fail to please." She sauntered next to him and took a sip of the champagne, seemingly engaged in the event but kept her subtly coy expression as her eyes moved from Jason to the rest of the room. "The host is our target, her name is Tina Stella, an entrepreneur in her own right. She appears every now and then, but every time she leaves a person goes missing. Someone unimportant, someone who wouldn't draw attention."

"What about the guards?"

"You saw the marks? It seems like lieutenants have their own cult following, something I wasn't aware of."

"Minions that have minions. Great."

"The host is hiding something in this place, I felt it as soon as I was in the vicinity. But there's a vessel that's cancelling out my powers. Until I kill them, I'm practically mortal."

"Well, at least now I can sneak up on you." Alias rolled her eyes and took another sip of her beverage, acting out her improvised routine as she moved closer to Jason so that he could feel her breath tickle his ear.

"The hallway on my right is the only area with extra security. Your gear's in the second room on your left." She plucked a fresh glass of champagne of a tray from a passing waiter and pressed it into his hand. "You'll need this. If you need me however, I'll be here trying not to kill everyone." Flashing him a cute wink, she let her free hand glide down his chest as she slid away from him and he peered off his shoulder; the psychic link placed by Rex sent information of the entire interior, a mental map with one room left undiscovered. That was when he felt it, a distant hum that warmed his muscles and he glanced to his right. The room, where whatever secret was waiting to be found. He took a final glance at the party before moving, leaving the festivities behind as he walked into the hallway and fought a shiver that crawled down his spine.

"Cold."


End file.
